Ning Zhang, Jia Wu and Liwei Zhang
Math. Comp. 89 (2020), 1867-1894.
Abstract, references and article information

Yuji Nakatsukasa
Math. Comp. 89 (2020), 1843-1866.
Abstract, references and article information

Thi-Thao-Phuong Hoang, Lili Ju, Wei Leng and Zhu Wang
Math. Comp. 89 (2020), 1807-1842.
Abstract, references and article information

Shukai Du and Francisco-Javier Sayas
Math. Comp. 89 (2019), 1745-1782.
Abstract, references and article information

Ricardo G. Durán, Enrique Otárola and Abner J. Salgado
Math. Comp. 89 (2020), 1581-1603.
Abstract, references and article information

While coordinated action is urgently needed, should we be racing to download everything that promises a solution?

The London-headquartered fintech startup Soldo has repurposed its spend management tools for local authorities in Italy to support its COVID-19 emergency response measures

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

The relationship wellness app is seeing a significant uptick in interest as couples are locked down together during the COVID-19 pandemic

Mahbub Alam and Anish Ghosh
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3357-3374.
Abstract, references and article information

Kathrin Bringmann, Matthew Krauel and Michael Tuite
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3261-3293.
Abstract, references and article information

Robert Grizzard and Jeffrey D. Vaaler
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3235-3259.
Abstract, references and article information

Kamen G. Ivanov and Pencho Petrushev
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3117-3176.
Abstract, references and article information

wheehamx posted a photo:

Stay at home pinhole camera, f285, 8seconds exposure, xray film

V. M. Radchenko and N. O. Stefans’ka
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 99 (2020), 229-238.
Abstract, references and article information

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

S. V. Bodnarchuk and O. M. Kulyk
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 99 (2020), 53-65.
Abstract, references and article information

Alyson Bittner
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 148 (2020), 2683-2693.
Abstract, references and article information

The Government today announced the establishment of a LawTech Fund to help law firms and barristers' chambers procure and upgrade information technology (IT) systems and arrange lawtech training courses for their staff.

In a statement, the Department of Justice said the LawTech Fund, established under the Anti-epidemic Fund, will be open for applications from April 28 and cater to small and medium-size law firms as well as barristers’ chambers.

Applications will be accepted for two months and those eligible can receive a reimbursement of up to $50,000.

The Law Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Bar Association will establish a joint committee to assess the applications and arrange funding disbursement.

More than 60% of law firms and 50% of barristers' chambers in Hong Kong are expected to benefit from the funding.

As for funding eligibility, law firms or chambers must have five or fewer practising lawyers as at April 8 and at the time of granting the subsidy.

The subsidies must be used for procuring and upgrading IT systems, including but not confined to video-conferencing facilities. The lawtech training that is to receive the subsidy must be recognised and approved by the joint committee.

The application form and guidance notes are available at the homepages of the Law Society and the Bar Association.

The Secretary for Justice has given an outline of the fund and discussed lawtech in her blog.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted business activity and supply chains across the globe, with numerous trade fairs and events around the world being postponed or cancelled, depriving many enterprises of business and marketing...

More than 40,000 new niches at two columbaria in Tuen Mun and Fanling will open for applications from May 11, the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department announced today.

Tsang Tsui Columbarium in Tuen Mun will provide 22,680 standard niches and 220 large niches, while Wo Hop Shek Columbarium in Fanling will provide 21,720 standard niches and 330 large niches for application.

The department said applicants should only file one application form to apply for either a large or standard niche for the same deceased person.

It said applicants have to fill in the particulars of at least three deceased people when applying for a large niche.

Since the type and number of niches available in the two columbaria are different, the chance of successful allocation varies, the department added.

The application deadline is June 10.

Click here for details.

The Buildings Department approved 13 building plans in February - four on Hong Kong Island, one in Kowloon and eight in the New Territories.

Of the approved plans, nine were for apartment and apartment-commercial developments, one was for commercial development, one was for factory and industrial developments, and two were for community services developments.

Consent was given for works to start on two building projects, which will provide 77,942 sq m of gross floor area for non-domestic use.

The department also issued 14 occupation permits - four on Hong Kong Island, one in Kowloon and nine in the New Territories.

Buildings certified for occupation have 149,306 sq m of gross floor area for domestic use involving 2,912 units, and 67,594 sq m for non-domestic use.

The declared cost of new buildings completed in the month was $3.7 billion.

As we all know, Hong Kong as well as most parts of the world are facing a pandemic that has an enormous negative impact on our social and economic life. At this juncture, we don't have any accurate way to predict what will happen in the coming months. Two months ago, we were worried about whether COVID-19 would become a pandemic. Yet, the scale of the pandemic as we see now is not what we could have imagined two months ago. What we can do now is tackle the social and economic crisis upfront and build the resilience of our society, in particular, our employment market, so that when the time comes where social and economic activities can resume no matter how gradually or rapidly, our society can bounce back as soon as possible.

Unemployment has edged up bit by bit since the latter part of 2019. Statistics and daily news about business closures are telling us that unemployment is going up rapidly. While we should see what can be done to help those unemployed, the more important and urgent task is to see how we can "stop the bleeding", which essentially means job retention. The Employment Support Scheme, with a budget of over $80 billion, is designed exactly for that purpose. Through providing time-limited financial support, the whole idea of this scheme is to preserve jobs by enabling employers to keep their employees in employment for the coming months, and also when business resumes, employers can immediately grab the opportunities.

The central idea of the Employment Support Scheme is to provide wage subsidy that is equivalent to 50% of the wages of the employees up to a wage cap of $18,000 per month. The subsidy is given to the employers so that they can keep their staff for the coming six months. The employers will be required to have no redundancy or layoffs during the months that they receive wage subsidies from the Government.

In Hong Kong, we do not have a pay-as-you-go income tax system. Neither do we have a social insurance system nor a central provident fund to cover everyone in our workforce. That means we do not have any existing system covering every employer and employee in Hong Kong that we can devise a wage subsidy scheme that covers everyone. Any system meant to cover everyone in our workforce must be mandatory in nature and that will take time for us to have the relevant legislation in place and subsequently the system built.

However, schemes under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) and the other Occupational Retirement Schemes provide a framework that we can develop a wage subsidy scheme to cover the great majority of the workforce. This is definitely not sufficient. In particular, we have identified three sectors that do not have good coverage in the provident fund systems. They are the catering industry, the construction industry and the passenger transport sector. Under the Anti-epidemic Fund, we have three sector-specific schemes to assist the employers and the employees in these sectors.

Many freelance workers or those in the so-called slash economy do not make contributions to the MPF. Though we have over 200,000 self-employed persons having an account in the MPF system, they do not pay MPF regularly. While we will provide a one-off wage subsidy to those self-employed persons who have made MPF contributions within the past 15 months, we also have three separate but mutually exclusive schemes operating under the Home Affairs Bureau, the Education Bureau and the Social Welfare Department, providing the same one-off wage subsidy to those freelance workers who provide arts and sports training. The one-off wage subsidy is $7,500.

Though all the schemes I mentioned above still cannot cover everyone in the workforce, this is the best we can do in making use of existing systems so that we can launch this round of the Anti-epidemic Fund in the shortest possible time to help our employers and employees to survive the challenges that are with us now. Any new systems to be built from scratch will not be able to provide the necessary timely support that employers and employees desperately need.

As mentioned earlier, unemployment is increasing at a disturbing rate. The basic unemployment protection system in Hong Kong relies on two legs. One is the Severance Payment or Long Service Payment payable by the employers, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the monthly salary times the number of years of service with the employer. The other is the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme. The CSSA provides a level of income support to families for their basic level of living in the context of Hong Kong. The CSSA provides a safety net to any family not having sufficient means, including those who are unemployed.

Apart from the income test, the CSSA also has an asset test. For the purpose of providing extra help to those unemployed during this difficult time, the Government will double the existing asset limit for the able-bodied for a limited period of six months, allowing more families with people unemployed to become eligible to receive CSSA. We estimated that about 40,000 families will benefit from this enhancement.

Unfortunately, over the years there is a social stigma towards the CSSA system. People in desperation may be deterred from applying for CSSA simply because of the stigma. This is the time for us to destigmatise the CSSA system. It is the safety net for citizens of Hong Kong. It is the responsibility of an affluent society like Hong Kong to provide the basic level of living to those who cannot afford to do so on their own. This is the time, this difficult time, that this safety net should perform its basic function.

We are doing our best to support Hong Kong in this epidemic fight. Let's weather the storm and brave the challenges together.

This is the Letter to Hong Kong by Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong on anti-epidemic measures and the Employment Support Scheme carried on Radio Television Hong Kong Radio 3 on April 19.

The Education Bureau today issued a circular memorandum to tutorial schools, inviting them to apply for a relief grant under the Anti-epidemic Fund.

The bureau said a total of about $120 million has been allocated from the fund to provide a one-off relief grant of $40,000 to each eligible tutorial school.

These tutorial schools must be registered under the Education Ordinance, have been operating in the three months before the class suspension - November, December and January - and be in operation on the application date.

Designated centres under the Financial Assistance Scheme for Designated Evening Adult Education Courses, which offer evening secondary school courses for adult learners, are also eligible for the grant.

The measure is expected to benefit about 3,000 tutorial schools, and the relief grant will be disbursed about four weeks upon receipt of an application.

Additionally, the fund will also provide relief grants to school-related service providers who have been affected by the prolonged class suspension, incurring an expenditure of about $419 million.

Beneficiaries will include operators of catering outlets at primary schools, secondary schools and post-secondary institutions and lunchbox providers of primary and secondary schools.

School bus drivers, school private light bus drivers and escorts, or nannies, as well as instructors, coaches, trainers and operators of interest classes engaged by schools, will also benefit from the relief grants.

The bureau will distribute application forms for the relief grant through post-secondary institutions to the catering outlets operating on their campuses within this week. The application details for other relief grants will be announced as soon as possible.

Separately, the bureau announced earlier that it would provide a one-off relief grant of $80,000 to each private school offering full and formal curriculum.

The grant has been disbursed progressively to schools under the English Schools Foundation, international schools, private independent schools, and other private secondary day schools and private primary schools.

The Chief Executive has reappointed Frederick Ma as Chairman of the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) Council from April 25 to December 31, the Government announced today.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung thanked Mr Ma for accepting the reappointment, saying that under his leadership, EdUHK continues to focus on educational research, development and innovation and promoting and supporting the development of teacher education in Hong Kong by nurturing outstanding and committed educators and professionals.

Mr Ma cannot accept a three-year term up until 2023 due to personal reasons. In the meantime, the Government will identify a suitable candidate for the chairmanship of the EdUHK Council.

Brenna Cholerton
Nov 1, 2016; 29:210-219
From Research to Practice

Ryan A. Ristau
Nov 1, 2013; 26:211-215
From Research to Practice

Katherine S. O’Neal
Nov 1, 2016; 29:249-252
Pharmacy and Therapeutics

The Treasury has announced a new set of financial measures aimed at helping startups during the coronavirus pandemic, including a £250 Future Fund for startups with at least £250,000 in funding