Qingying Bu
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 148 (2020), 2459-2467.
Abstract, references and article information

The Security Bureau today said that the last Hong Kong resident who had contracted COVID-19 while aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship and was hospitalised in Japan has returned to Hong Kong.

Immigration Department staff that assisted Hong Kong residents in Japan have completed their mission and returned to Hong Kong as well.

In early February, a cluster of COVID-19 infection cases occurred on the Diamond Princess cruise docked in Yokohama.

Of some 3,700 passengers and crew, about 370 were from Hong Kong. The 712 confirmed COVID-19 cases associated with the cruise included 76 Hong Kong residents who were hospitalised in Japan for isolation and treatment.

While three Hong Kong residents passed away, the remaining 73 patients returned to Hong Kong or their places of residence after being discharged from the hospital.

As for other Hong Kong residents on the cruise, the bureau noted that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government arranged three flights, between February 19 and 23, to escort 193 of them back to the city.

Upon arrival, they were transferred to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Another 144 Hong Kong residents returned on their own via other flights, including 25 close contacts of the patients who had completed quarantine in Japan.

For those who returned to Hong Kong on their own and did not complete 14 days of quarantine in Japan, they were required to complete the remaining quarantine period at a quarantine centre.

Of the 231 cruise passengers admitted to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate, nine tested positive for COVID-19 and were sent to hospitals for isolation and treatment.

The Hong Kong SAR Government expressed profound condolences on the passing of the Hong Kong patients and its deepest sympathies to their families.

The SAR Government emphasised that the incident could not have been resolved smoothly without the staunch support of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Japan and Japanese authorities.

The SAR Government also thanked Cathay Pacific Airways and the Airport Authority for their assistance, the bureau added.

The first batch of about 300 Hong Kong residents stranded in Pakistan will take a chartered flight tentatively scheduled to leave Islamabad on the morning of April 30 and arrive in Hong Kong in the afternoon.

In a statement today, the Security Bureau said the returnees upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport will proceed to the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre at AsiaWorld-Expo by coach for compulsory COVID-19 testing before they are transferred to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate for a 14-day quarantine.

In view of the COVID-19 situation, the Pakistan Government banned all international flight movements since late March, resulting in Hong Kong residents there being unable to return to Hong Kong through normal means.

The Immigration Department has received requests for assistance from Hong Kong residents stranded there and as at yesterday, it has successfully contacted about 1,600 of them.

Due to the large number of people requesting assistance and having regard to the returnees' quarantine arrangements, the capacities for testing, and the quarantine and treatment facilities, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government must adopt a phased approach in assisting their return, subject to the circumstances.

The first batch of Hong Kong residents on the chartered flight are those staying in Islamabad and its surrounding areas. They also include people with special needs such as those with illnesses and pregnant women.

The cost of taking the chartered flight is about $6,000 per person and is borne by the user.

The Security Bureau said the chartered flight could not have been arranged smoothly without the staunch support of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (OCMFA) and the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, as well as the full co-operation rendered by the Pakistan Government and the Consulate General of Pakistan in Hong Kong.

The bureau said the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to liaise with the residents still in Pakistan and assist in their return.

Meanwhile, a flight will arrive from Doha this afternoon carrying about 170 Hong Kong residents returning from Pakistan themselves.

The bureau added that upon their arrival in Hong Kong, they will be arranged to leave deep throat saliva samples at the Temporary Specimen Collection Centre before being admitted to the quarantine centre at Chun Yeung Estate for a 14-day quarantine.

Apart from Pakistan, the Indian Government has also since late March banned all international flight movements. As at yesterday, the Immigration Department has successfully contacted about 3,100 Hong Kong residents stranded there who sought assistance to return home.

The Hong Kong SAR Government is maintaining close contact with the OCMFA, the Chinese Embassy in India and the Consulate General of India in Hong Kong, while also contacting several airlines to arrange return flights to Hong Kong.

The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau today announced that the subsidy quota for three mask production lines have been reassigned.

Three production lines, previously approved under the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme, have withdrawn from the scheme, the Government said.

The subsidy quota concerned has been allocated to SDL Skin (Asia), Safeguard HK and SwissTech.

SDL Skin (Asia) has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for a second production line and is expected to supply an average of 1.6 million masks every month to the Government. The production line may receive a subsidy of up to $1 million.

Safeguard HK has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for one production line and is expected to supply an average of 500,000 masks to the Government every month. The production line may receive up to $2 million.

SwissTech has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for one production line and is expected to supply an average of 2 million masks every month to the Government and produce a further 1 million masks on average monthly for the local market.

The production line may receive up to $3 million.

It is estimated that when all 20 subsidised lines under the scheme are in full production, they will collectively supply 33.85 million masks to the Government and a further 7.15 million to the local market monthly.

The companies which withdrew from the scheme were CareHK and Shang Manufactory.

The Government did not sign agreements with or make disbursements to these firms.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam inspected one of the CuMask production sites in Tsuen Wan today and expressed gratitude to those manufacturing the reusable masks for Hong Kong residents to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

She chatted with the staff and noted that many of them are retired textile industry workers who have re-joined the production workforce to combat the virus.

Mrs Lam praised them for their commitment to serving the community and thanked them for their hard work.

The masks produced in the workshop will be delivered to a clean workspace for sterilising with ozone and packing before distribution. There is no need to wash the mask before it is used for the first time.

In the face of the tight supply of masks amid the epidemic, the Government set aside funds to subsidise projects on technology applications of reusable masks under the first round of the Anti-epidemic Fund.

The CuMask complies with the American Society for Testing & Materials F2100 Level 1 standard and can be washed up to 60 times. It can also be used for a longer period after replacing the filter.

Mrs Lam said she is pleased to note that CuMask is well received by the public and the registration process has been very smooth.

“CuMask is a home-grown scientific research achievement with local application. The whole process has involved co-operation between the Government, industry, academia and the research sector and is an outstanding example of the use of technology to improve people’s lives.

“It will also help solve the problem of the supply of face masks during an epidemic in the long run. I highly commend all the people who have participated in the relevant work and I am fully confident in the development of innovation and technology in Hong Kong.”

Mrs Lam appealed to the public to make use of the registration quota of up to six people to minimise delivery resources and enhance efficiency.

She added that relevant departments will deliver the masks as soon as possible.

(Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Job performance has long been understood to be the primary equalizing factor affecting promotions for men and women in the workplace, but research shows, women don't gain as much from the same performance improvements as men do. New research in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research shows training plays an important part in promotions for women in the field of information technology.

(Tokyo University of Science) Plastic waste often ends up in river bodies and oceans, posing a serious threat to the marine ecosystem. To prevent the accumulation of plastic debris, we must find out where plastic emission is prevalent. To this end, scientists in Japan have come up with a new method to track plastic emissions from inland areas to sea. This method is useful to identify the 'hotspots' of plastic emission and can even help to implement appropriate measures to avoid plastic pollution.

Eyes popped and mouths dropped wide open this week when it was reported in this newspaper that a British woman is using sperm smoothies to build her immune system. Tracy Kiss, 32, said she takes the sperm straight from the source - her boyfriend...

Scott Carey assembles half the Tech Advisor squad to chat about the HomePod's great audio and then all the things that make it a tabloid headline. Jim Martin lets us know if Apple ruined his oak and/or pine.

Lewis Painter chats us through Kingdom Come: Deliverance and all the wacky things you can do in its slow paced but huge world. Dom Preston then lets us know - without spoilers - just how good Black Panther is, Marvel's latest marvel (hopefully).

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The gang returns with an eclectic mix of tech chat. Can Nectome really download your thoughts - while killing you - to preserve your memories forever in the cloud? We didn't make this up.

Then we discuss the brand new Samsung Galaxy S9, phone cameras and crap AR before discussing how the UK should go about contracting a company to age check porn site users.

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Join host Henry Burrell in hot as hell London town to bring you 40 minutes of air conditioned tech chat.

Tamlin Magee talks us through the murky ways IBM helped the Third Reich in the Thirties and Forties with data collection and asks what responsibility tech companies have today to ensure their work does not contribute to evil.

Charlotte Jee then analyses Facebook's stock price slump, asking why it happened and does it really affect the company? The team muses on Facebook as a whole and the fascinating if polarising Zuckerberg.

Finally Macworld's David Price chats about the new MacBook Pros and how Apple has already fixed the major flaw in the high-end model - but why did they ship this way? Is Apple less concerned with quality control these days?

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

21 January 2020

Under UNIX, the process of updating a lookup table in SAS Business Rules Manager does not work properly. The problem occurs when you perform these steps:  Open a lookup table. Cl

21 January 2020

WASHINGTON, CMC – The World Bank has predicted the sharpest decline of remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean, saying that global remittances on a whole are projected to fall by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the economic crisis...

Employees at an Oregon restaurant said a peacock has taken on the role of protector for a mother duck and the eggs she laid in the closed patio area.

3M has signed a $126 million deal with the Pentagon to increase its production of N95 masks to 26 million per month beginning in October 2020.

The Association is waiting for clear guidance from the Small Business Administration on the best way to help dentists considering applying for Paycheck Protection Program 7(a) loans.

Dentists can apply for both Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program 7(a) loans, the Small Business Administration told the American Dental Association on April 6.

The Small Business Administration said that as of April 16, the agency is unable to accept any new applications for the Paycheck Protection Program or the Economic Injury Disaster Loans due to a lack of funding.

The House of Representatives passed a new coronavirus relief bill April 23 that calls for additional funding for federal loan programs to help businesses nationwide, including dental practices, recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic.

The Small Business Administration will resume accepting Paycheck Protection Program loan applications at 10:30 a.m. EST on April 27 from “approved lenders on behalf of any eligible borrower,” the agency said.

The Organized Dentistry Coalition is asking Congress for flexibility in the Paycheck Protection Program to allow dentists to purchase personal protective equipment as states begin the reopening phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stay connected with School Psychologist Files by joining the School Psychologist Files Facebook Page.  You can be one of the first to know about new articles on the School Psychologist Files website such as the brand new FAQ Parents ask about the IEP that I finished this weekend. 

Following the 2015­–16 crisis that saw record numbers of refugees arrive in Europe, policymakers have shown interest in creating managed, legal alternatives to the dangerous, unauthorized journeys many asylum seekers make. While these discussions should be informed by an understanding of current pathways and protection channels, it is "nearly impossible" to know how protection seekers enter and what legal channels are available to them, as this MPI Europe report explains.

The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is uncertain, amid skepticism from the Trump administration about its merits and the promise of legal challenge from ten state attorneys general. This issue brief presents a profile of young adults eligible for DACA in terms of their educational attainment and labor force participation, as well as what is at stake should the program be terminated.

Chicken pie with tasty extras

A spicy Thai take on fried chicken, perfect as an entree to get the taste-buds sizzling or part of a main meal with rice and vegetables.

A different take on veal to warm up a dinner party.

1.25 kg free-range chicken pieces eg thighs and legs 1/4 cup seasoned plain flour 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped 150g raw chorizo, thickly sliced 1 cup chopped celery 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced 3/4 cup dry white wine eg Riesling, pinot grigio or vermentino 3/4 cup chicken stock 400g can diced tomatoes with juice 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme or oregano 2 wide strips lemon zest salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 400g can chick peas, drained and rinsed* *When in season, use whole peeled and blanched fresh or frozen chestnuts in place of chick peas.

Wilfred Fujimoto
Apr 1, 2013; 31:90-94
Diabetes Advocacy

Lorenzo Rinaldo
Jul 1, 2017; 35:126-131
Feature Articles

Nudge blog note: Last night’s Republican debate prompted Richard Thaler to weigh in on Rick Perry’s handling of an HPV vaccine executive order, but not the policy itself. Also, Thaler recently started tweeting. Follow him. By Richard Thaler In the Republican Presidential debate last night at the Reagan library a question emerged about Rick Perry’s [...]

Lockdowns and “social distancing” guidelines are changing our intimate lives in major ways. For example, think about people living alone in heavily restricted areas right now. What we’re seeing in our research is that many of these folks are turning to sextech to fill the void in their sexual lives, such as by increasing their participation in activities like sexting and cybersex—and many are trying these things for the very first time. In order to explore the various ways that people are leveraging sextech right now, I spoke to two sextech experts: Dr. Erin Watson and Tasha Falconer.

A task force is recommending that the state lowers the score required on the controversial national edTPA exam.

New York, which has had a politically contentious history assessing its students, will seek three waivers from how the Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to test students.

The city's prekindergarten program is approaching universal access, which was a campaign promise of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who convinced the state legislature to provide $300 million to help launch it.

To give districts more flexibility in the face of teacher shortages, New York's education department is proposing to modify its regulations on teacher certifications.

Now Newark, New Jersey, is exploding, thanks to the attempts at intimidation by Governor Christie's hand-picked superintendent of schools, Cami Anderson.

Utah science teacher Skipper Coates asked her students to complete the following sentence: "What my parents don't know about social media is..."

Fed up with their district’s unmet pledges to stop steering African American students into low-level classes, parents take action.