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Relocating China's Foreign Reserves
Editor's note: In this new Brookings-Tsinghua Center paper, Qiao Yu writes that it is imperative for China to decentralize a significant portion of its foreign reserves to address economic challenges, and that a new strategic approach is needed to bridge the global demand for funds and the Chinese supply of funds.
The present global capitalism based on private property rights, free market competition and rule of law took shape shortly after World War II, which led to the first wave of contemporary international economic integration. Yet its domain at most covered half of the earth in the Cold War era since the Soviet bloc, China and a few other nations were captured by Stalinist-style command economic regimes behind Iron Curtain. In the late 1970s to the early 1980s, a new round of economic globalization regained momentum to expand the territory of the capitalism when the Thatcher-Reagan revolution rejuvenated Anglo-Saxon laissez faire market system and China's reforms pushed this country toward the global mainstream. No sooner than the collapse of the Berlin Wall had the modern capitalism dominated the entire world, thereby bringing about an unprecedented global division of labor.
In this context, China's phenomenal economic growth is a de facto a triumph of the modern global capitalism. After thirty-four years of joining in the world market, China has now overtaken the United States in gross value of merchandise trading and has become the largest global trader. Thanks to steady trade surpluses together with capital controls during this period, China's official foreign reserves accrued up to $3.3 trillion by the end of 2012, equivalent to 45 percent of the GDP. This wealth accounts for most of the Chinese external savings which are centralized, owned and managed by the government. The hoard of the massive foreign reserves gives market with strong signals to assure the value of the Chinese yuan and also acts as thick buffer to ward off external shocks. Apart from these merits, however, the vast centralized wealth poses serious problems for Beijing to deal with. Externally, China's foreign reserves, mostly parked in sovereign debt securities of the developed world, are no longer harbored in safe haven after the 2008 global financial crisis. In the unstable international monetary settings, these assets are exposed to a mix of inescapable systemic risks and intricate market risks. At home, the balance sheet of the Chinese central bank is constantly being expanded with stockpiles of foreign reserves over the years, and this situation was severely worsened by the recent fiscal stimulus to counteract economic slowdowns. Consequently, domestic money supply is increasing to a dangerous level and inflationary pressure mounts. In all respects, it is imperative for Beijing to decentralize a significant portion of its foreign reserves so as to address these challenges. This implies that China must begin an expedition of relocating its sizable foreign reserves and be ready to play an important role in global outbound direct investment activities.
For the past a few years the developed world has been struggling to resume growth from the global financial crisis. While the American economy has shown some encouraging signs in the recent months, Europe is still plagued by extremely high unemployment and sluggish economic performance. Among many others, lack of capital investments in industries is a main factor in preventing the West from recovering. Provided appropriate public policies and structural changes, strong investments are required for the developed economies to return to normal growing. Accordingly, it is useful for the developed world to tap outside financial sources to help revitalizing their economic activities. At the same time, it is also crucial for China to reposition its foreign reserves to reduce internal inflationary threat and diminish external risks. In short, a new strategic approach is to be needed to bridge the global demand for funds and the Chinese supply of funds. This reconciliation will have profound effects — it will not only benefit all involved countries, but will also hasten the recently-slowed pace of the economic globalization.
Woes of Global Capitalism
Due to the fact that markets are imperfect and individuals are short-sighted, it is reasonable for most governments worldwide to provide a diverse spectrum of social welfare services. Over years, state-funded social welfare of the developed countries on both sides of the Atlantic has proliferated rapidly and there is little difference between them with respect to government spending, tax burden and public debts. In Europe's predominant social democracy system, on the one hand, governments deliver cradle-to-grave entitlements, which claim 40 percent of the eurozone national income and push the gross sovereign debt to over 85 percent of their GDP. In America's free-market competition capitalism, on the other hand, Washington spends a quarter of the federal budget on healthcare schemes, while government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) guarantee or own most outstanding mortgages, and the government backs up the majority of new mortgages issued in the recent years. To support the enormous government expenditure, the U.S. sovereign debt accumulates to $15.96 trillion, about 100 percent of its GDP.
The core countries of the modern capitalism, noted by Lawrence Summers, integrate two economic sectors, a "productivity-generating market sector" and a "low-productivity state-funded social services sector". Besides, there is an accommodating financial sector which consists of three partitions to comply with the dual structure: a "market finance" to support the productive market sector, a "state finance" to fund social welfare sector, and a "hedge finance" to engage in arbitrage and speculation against underlying assets from these sectors. Jerry Muller argued that it is the modern welfare sector which enables capitalism and democracy to coexist in relative harmony. But rapidly the growing population of social services recipients ratchet up entitlement provisions, yielding a welfare state that is too generous to be affordable for productive market sector. As a result, governments of the developed countries resort state finance method of placing public debts to shift burdens partially onto home future generations and partially onto foreign debt-security holders to prevent the welfare machine from grinding to a halt. Under the current international monetary system, the core countries are able to use their sovereign debts to "recycle" reserve currencies accrued in the peripheral countries. This procedure, in essence, rests on the rights of reserve currency suppliers to supply international exchange media without boundary and faith of reserve currency receivers on these IOUs without doubt.
In this regard, the existence of global imbalances is a prerequisite for maintaining the West's internal imbalances. According to Rodrigo de Rato, the global imbalances are "the constellation of large (trade) deficits in one country, with counterpart (trade) surpluses being concentrated in a few others." In the past decade trade surplus from China against the United States has been a focal issue of the global macroeconomic imbalances. Among many Asian export-oriented economies, it is the Chinese government that uses most of its foreign reserves accrued from trade surpluses to purchase the West's sovereign debts, especially the U.S. Treasury securities and agency bonds. Ironically, it appears to be a perfect complement between the global imbalances and the West's internal imbalances: deficit-troubled governments at the core of the global capitalism demand for funds to sustain their welfare sector by issuing sovereign debts, while cash-rich governments at the capitalist periphery supply funds via deploying their foreign reserves on those securities.
As a matter of fact, the vow-to-cash game is based upon market trust of whether the state finances in the West are truly sustainable. Under the circumstances of the severe internal imbalances, the developed world must reform the welfare sector according to prudent and reliable governmental budget in view of a long-term horizon. However, political stalemate keeps many developed countries away from correcting the collective irresponsibility of their respective state finances and restructuring the flawed welfare state. This is largely attributed to structural deficiencies in these nations. In the United States, divergence among elites and the general populace is so extreme that it obstructs policy makers from producing rational domestic decisions, especially on issues such as federal deficit reduction, income tax adjustment, health-care restructuring and governmental spending priorities. In continental Europe, on the other hand, the real challenge is neither the lack of fiscal union, nor political union, but rather how to deal with the policy impasse resulting from an overwhelmingly social democratic culture and the subsequent extravagance of social services such that they overburden the future generations. The uncompromising welfare beneficiaries of the most euro-zone countries, including entitlement holders, labor unions, public sector employees and other vested interests, are firmly resisting on deep and painful but necessary reforms which Germany had undertaken a decade ago to check budget deficit and restore economic competitiveness.
While the global financial crisis wreaks havoc on the federal budget, the U.S. political apparatus is stuck in reforming entitlement provisions. Hence, the U.S. Federal Reserve has moved away from its long-standing independent position as the guardian of price stability and has ardently engaged in infinite quantitative easing policies (QEs) to lubricate the economy. Similarly, the European Central Bank (ECB) has also departed from its sole price stability mandate given by the Maastricht Treaty via both Long-Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO) to inject mass liquidity into the European banking system and Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs) to buy government bonds of its member countries to cope with the sovereign debt crisis. The privileged status of the reserve currency issuers in the international monetary system enable both "global central banks" to replay a game of "our currency, but your problem" — a famous phrase pronounced by John Connally, President Nixon's Treasury Secretary, at the G-10 Rome meetings held in late 1971 to a delegation of Europeans who worried about exchange rate fluctuations as Washington devalued the dollar to preface the default of its obligations on gold conversion defined by the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system.
Yet, there is no panacea in the world and today's cue will be tomorrow's demise. In time, the unconventional beggar-thy-neighbor monetary policy will lead to a trust crisis of the modern capitalism. To be a dominating supplier of reserve currency or global fiat money, the U.S. Federal Reserve must be accountable to its irrevocable obligations in all matters. To deliberately dilute unit purchasing power of the greenbacks is equivalent to stealing wealth from its creditors both at home and abroad. In sum, near-sighted actions of the major central banks plant a time-bomb for the dollar-euro-led international monetary system and are lethally detrimental to the world market. John M. Keynes (1919) warned it almost a century ago:
"Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch its currency……Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler on surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which no one man in a million is able to diagnose."
Problems of Foreign Reserves
Foreign reserves were the scarcest resource during China's entire command economy period, but the assets denominated by hard currencies have accumulated astoundingly since the 1980s. This dramatic reversal can be primarily attributed to three fundamental changes — namely, the opening-up of the Chinese economy in the late 1970s, the development of export-oriented coastal areas from the mid-1980s and the entry to the World Trade Organization in 2001.These strategic measures saved China from the "self-sufficient" mire and integrated the country into the world market system. As a result, the initiatives of millions of ordinary people were liberated, just as China became a major goods exporter and FDI receiver for years to generate steady inflows of reserve currencies. Moreover, China's monetary management regime coupled with capital controls also partially accounts for the piling-up of the foreign reserves. Additionally, Beijing's policy-makers have long been obsessed with a mercantilist view of wealth, and felt financially secure to stockpile massive amounts of globally-recognized hard currencies. Nowadays China sits on nearly one third of the world foreign reserves, while both the developed countries and other developing economies almost equally share the rest of the world foreign reserves.
But foreign reserves are by no means in synonym of "the more the merrier". Under the current international monetary system, foreign reserves serve three basic roles: as transactional media to facilitate foreign trade, a precautionary instrument to stabilize foreign exchange markets, and a confident asset to endorse local currency issuance. According to Triffin's reserves adequacy rule, a three-month import equivalent reserves are sufficient enough to meet a nation's demand for exchange media. China's reserve-to-import ratio is 7.1 times of the reserves adequacy ratio, much higher than other major global traders including Japan (5.2), Russia (4.7), Brazil (4.0), India (2.6), Korea (2.2), Singapore (1.9), Hong Kong (1.8), France (0.8), U.S. (0.7), Germany (0.6), Canada (0.4) and the United Kingdom (0.4). After the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, most East Asian economies considerably increased holdings of foreign reserves considerably to build up a thick buffer in case of volatility in the exchange markets. As a rule of thumb, the ratio of foreign reserves to local currency can be used to calibrate the quantity of a precaution reserves hoard. In the recent years China's foreign reserves relative to broadly-defined money stock (M2) were 0.27-0.29, much higher than Japan's (0.09-0.11) and close to small open economies like Hong Kong (0.24-0.36), Malaysia (0.32-0.44) and South Korea (0.32-0.45). Finally, confidence reserve demand is usually required by two kinds of economies: the one are a few city-economies like Hong Kong and Singapore, in which local monies are completely endorsed by the major international reserve currency to strengthen their status as regional financial hubs. The others are macro-unstable developing economies such as some Latin American countries in the 1980-1990s, where the dollar was used as an anchor to curb untamed hyperinflation. Measured by all standards, China's holding of the foreign reserves is much bigger than normal needs, and it is also meaningless for the yuan issuance to be backed up by the international fiat money. Market confidence in the currency of a mega-size economy like China relies upon a healthy fiscal position in the narrow term, and stable macroeconomic performance in the broad term.
Over the past two decades the Chinese central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBC), has vaulted most of the country's external savings through its conduct of monetary policy. The PBC constantly uses the yuan to buy international reserve monies, especially the U.S. dollar, from home commodity exporters and foreign direct investors. Occasionally it sells central-bank notes to financial institutions to sterilize extra liquidity created. The monetary policy, accommodating persistent trade surpluses, led to rapid increases in the central bank assets. When its size surpassed the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2004 and the Bank of Japan in 2006, the PBC has been the largest central bank in the world. In the Chinese central bank's balance sheet, the majority of the assets are the U.S. Treasury bonds and European sovereign debts denominated respectively by the dollar and euro on the one hand, and its liabilities are filled with huge high-powered money in the yuan on the other hand. Furthermore, the situation became very alarming when Beijing took expansionary macroeconomic policies to boost slow-paced growth during the recent global financial crisis, thereby flooding the economy with excessive money stock. By the end of 2012, China's broadly-defined money stock (M2) recorded 97 trillion yuan ($15.4 trillion), increasing by 50 trillion yuan ($7.9 trillion) in the past five years. This amount is equivalent to a quarter of the global money stock, about 1.5 times of the greenbacks, and bigger than the quantity of the euro currency. Considering that China's economic size is less than half of the U.S. economy and the yuan is mostly used for home transactions, the over-expanded central bank book ends up creating inflationary nightmare.
On a micro level, the Chinese central bank turns out to be the largest global asset management institution under the reserve-centered monetary regime, watching over vast wealth in the form of the official foreign reserves. It is estimated that approximately 65-70 percent of China's foreign reserves are parked in the dollar-denominated U.S. debt securities, most of which are the Treasury bonds; a quarter of the foreign reserves are European sovereign debts denominated by the euro, and the rest are debts of other countries and international organizations. In addition to market risks, the foreign reserves are exposed to the global systemic risks. On top of them, the dilution of international reserve currencies, resulting from the U.S. Fed's unlimited QEs associated with the similar ECB's actions, is wearing away the real value of the foreign reserves. In retrospect, collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system in the early 1970s is a good lesson to learn. After the Nixon Administration defaulted on obligations of the dollar to gold, real value of the dollar reserves held by the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan in terms of commodities shrank around 60 percent in the 1970s, excluding impacts of the oil embargoes occurring during this time. Looking ahead, it is projected that the unit purchasing power of China's foreign reserves against composite commodities will decline by over one third in the next few years.
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For the time being, China's foreign reserves per se are locked in the U.S. Treasury bonds and the European sovereign debts despite the fact that these securities are regarded as being highly liquid assets. Were large amount of the bonds disposed openly, their prices would drop sharply and devastate the market; were the bonds placed privately, there would have little counter-parties to take the long position. This is a so-called "too big to exit" problem. In addition to a possible default of U.S. Treasury securities (though the probability is very low), the foreign reserves are faced with systemic risks caused by big uncertainty of the European monetary union. They include potential domino defaults of southern European sovereign debts, possible downsize or even meltdown of the eurozone, and the subsequent restructuring and reform of the international monetary system. All these risks may result in heavy losses to mass foreign reserve holders like China.
Calling for Capital Investments
Since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, the developed economies have had no resilient recovery. Recently deterioration of European economic fortunes and unsettlement of the U.S. fiscal problem have further deterred private companies from investment and ordinary people from consumption. Compared with normal business cycles over the past sixty years, the current situation is very odd and disturbing. Among many reasons, lack of sufficient capital investments in the West is a main factor for the prolonged recession and delayed upturn. Nonetheless, there are quite a few important industrial sectors worldwide longing for capital investments, such as American infrastructures, unconventional energy industry, European banking sector, global food production and many others.
It is still controversial whether the re-modernization of the U.S. infrastructures is necessary step in creating jobs and promoting growth in the immediate term. But the obsolete infrastructural facilities are widely-seen as roadblocks preventing the American manufacturers from improving competitiveness and households from enhancing well-being. Because the most American infrastructures are worn down or outmoded, they need billions of dollars of capital investments to be revitalized. First of all, America's century-old electric grid network is hampered by old equipment and technologies. It is estimated that poor quality, power failures and electric blackouts lead to losses over $100 billion annually. According to a report by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the American grid net needs $1.5-2.0 trillion for constructing a reliable, smart and clean system, in which capital investments in transmission and distribution alone require $880 billion. Secondly, the U.S. transportation system should be upgraded. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimates that the U.S. road network needs $1 trillion for rebuilding, reconstruction and improvements in the near future (a recent campaign of toll-road privatization plans to attract around $200 billion from market investors), and the railroad network requires $200 billion of investment for increasing capacity for both cargo and passenger transportation. In addition, the Airports Council International-North America (ACINA) forecasts that the U.S. airports would require $80 billion of capital investment. Thirdly, most of the U.S. metropolitan infrastructure, including drinking-water pipes, sewage outlets and subway systems, are greatly in need of renewal, since such systems in New York City, Los Angeles and many others are too old to supply quality services. Finally, American fiber-optic cable facilities and other Internet connectivity services are among the second tier group which retards growth of the information-age economy. Although the United States is the home of the ICT revolution, its average internet-connecting speed is much slower than its East Asian peers like South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, and just ranks as number nine in the world. Indeed, both the U.S. federal and local governments understand importance of reinvesting in these areas. Faced with budget constraints, unfortunately, the conventional Keynesian stimulus program of infrastructural spending won't work this time. Contrary to telecommunication and high-technology industries, these infrastructural areas are less politically sensitive, and there is no reason to shy away from billions of dollars of potential Chinese investment.
The world witnessed a peaceful but fundamental energy revolution in the United States — fast expansion and rapid proliferation of shale gas industry. Benefiting from clearly-defined property rights and market dynamism, the American shale gas producers have created a set of cutting-edge technologies for shale gas production, such as horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, logging while drilling, geo-steering drilling and micro-seismic monitoring in the recent years. Owing to 25-trillion-cubic-meters of recoverable shale gas reserves, the U.S. natural gas production is expected to accelerate over next three decades and it might account for one third of its total energy provisions. Accordingly, the United States would become the largest world energy producer surpassing Saudi Arabia and Russia, and it would change from a main oil importer to be a major energy exporter. This industry has great potential because there are huge shale gas reserves available on earth to be exploited and the combustion of shale gas emits much lower carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide than does the combustion of coal or oil. Not surprisingly, progress of America's shale gas production is so important that it will not only significantly reshape the world energy industry to respond to climate change, but also dramatically redraw the global geo-political map to change the conflict of civilizations. Even though a few hurdles like environmental standards, regulatory structure and gas export restriction have to be cleared, long-term capital investment is crucial to accelerate the expansion of this industry. While the gas field in Barnett of Texas is well developed, shale gas drilling in Marcellus of the Northeastern region is gaining strong momentum. It is estimated that full-fledged development of Marcellus will set up 100,000-220,000 rigs, which require $600-1500 billion of capital investments. Taking into account fund demand in other shale gas fields including Haynesville, Eagle Ford, Woodford and Bakken along with environmental-protection solutions and distribution facilities of pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG), total capital investments in this sector would be as high as $2-3 trillion in the next two decades. While the shale gas industry takes shape in the U.S., it is also very promising in the other parts of the world. The globally proved reserves of shale are huge. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), recoverable reserves of shale gas in 32 countries are estimated to be over 187 trillion cubic meters, about seven times larger than the global conventional natural gas reserves. Among them the top countries include China (36 trillion cubic meters), Argentina (21.9 trillion cubic meters), Mexico (19.3 trillion cubic meters), South Africa (13.7 trillion cubic meters), Canada (11 trillion cubic meters) and Australia (11.2 trillion cubic meters). It won't take long for these countries to tap their massive reserves to increase energy provisions if environmental protection issues are properly addressed.
In the recent years a specter is again haunting Europe — this time is not the specter of communism, but that of the home-made financial crisis originated from sovereign debt woes of the southern European countries. Although the ECB president Marrio Draghi acted twice in 2011-12 to provide huge liquidity to ease market panic temporarily, the crisis is not yet over until astonishing unemployment is reduced and the eurozone economy as a whole starts growing. Since massive sovereign debts of the southern European countries are held by major European banks, the former's mess contaminates the latter's balance; and subsequent banking distress, in turn, devastates the European real economic sectors. This vicious cycle endangers the entirety of Europe, as well as the euro. No one knows the exact losses of the southern European sovereign debts, or the bad assets of the European banks. In consequence, the European banks must raise more capital, not only to meet BASEL III requirements for sheltering them from resurgence of the financial crisis and economic downturn, but also to be able to carry on normal lending for spurring the European economies from lengthened recessions. It is estimated that the European banks need around €600 billion for recapitalization, and this amount would go up much higher if the European economy worsened. Thanks to fatal flaws of the monetary union, i.e., no regular fiscal transfers and consolidated federal power, the eurozone governments, behaving like seventeen legally identical oligarchies in a market, can hardly initiate functional tools such as the Eurobond or a "European TARP" to recapitalize the distressed banking system. On the other hand, the European banks are in the course of deleveraging balances and spinning off non-core assets and troubled loans. The IMF estimates that the size of the European banking system may shrink by $2.6 trillion in next few years, which is about 7 percent of the total assets. Recently PwC, a market consultancy, predicted that the European banks will deleverage €3.4 trillion from their balance sheets to make themselves viable over the coming years. Regardless of which estimated figure proves to be more accurate, there will be a big contraction of bank lending in Europe. According to Prime Collateralized Securities, at least €4 trillion will be needed to fill the hole caused by the banks' withdrawal. This trend will have very negative impacts on small and medium-sized firms, which consist of most European companies and create over 70 percent of jobs. Indeed, an external funding source is needed for Europe to relieve the burden from its troubled banking sector.
One of the long-term challenges the world faces is how to feed its rapidly expanding population. During the period from 1999 to 2011 the world population has increased from 6 billion to 7 billion and it is projected to reach 8 billion in 2025 and 9 billion in 2045. The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) pointed out that the world population growth and an increasing middle class in the developing world are the main factors of boosting demand for grain-intensive protein. On the other hand, the world production of cereal foods including maize, rice and wheat has stagnated at around 2.2-2.3 billion tonnes in the past five years. Thus, the world food stock-to-use ratio has declined from 25 percent in 2002-03 to 20.5 percent in 2012-13, indicating that a potential gap between the world food supply and demand has enlarged. Moreover, a new study led by Deepak Ray of the University of Minnesota published in Nature indicates that after decades of fast growing global agricultural output, production of four of the world's most important crops — maize, rice, wheat and soybean — could be stagnating or even slowing in some regions, which may account for about a quarter to a third of global production of these crops. Largely due to last summer's heat and drought in the U.S., Russia and Europe, food prices have been rising steadily around the world in recent months. This is an alert for the world food provisions. The UNFAO, holding a meeting on the world food security in Rome last October, warned that 870 million people around the world — or one in eight — are starving or undernourished. Food security is also a serious challenge to China. While the rapid urbanization competes with food production for land, China's arable land is only about 9 percent of the world total, lower than those of India (11 percent) and U.S. (12 percent). According to the National Statistical Bureau of China, the food production recorded 589.57million tonnes in 2012, of which cereal foods was 532.99 million tonnes. From January to October of 2012, China imported 60.88 million tonnes of food, over 10 percent of the total food consumption. This makes China a big buyer in the world food market, purchasing about half of the global soybean export.
Qiao Yu
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Brookings-Tsinghua Center
A practical solution is to increase provisions of the food supply worldwide. Indeed, land-abundant countries have high potential to increase their capacity of food production. Over the past decade investors around the world have leased enormous land for farming in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But these commercial activities create two serious concerns that must be addressed for


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Latest Sayre Campus News Releases
31 SWOSU-Sayre Students Named to Who's Who
02.09.2017 - Thirty-one Southwestern Oklahoma State University students on the Sayre campus have been named to the 2017 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.
Haught Retiring from SWOSU-Sayre After 28 Years
12.05.2016 - After 28 years in the classroom, Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre Language and Literature Instructor Judy Haught is retiring at the end of the current 2016 fall semester.
SWOSU-Sayre Hosts Career Day & Awards Scholarships
11.22.2016 - More than 150 high school juniors and seniors recently attended the annual Career Day at Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre.
SWOSU-Sayre Literary Festival Coming October 12
09.27.2016 - The annual SWOSU-Sayre Fall Literary Festival will be held Wednesday, October 12.
Salgado Wins at SWOSU-Sayre Dawg Day
09.07.2016 - Southwestern Oklahoma State University student Carlos Salgado won a laptop at the recent Dawg Day held on the SWOSU-Sayre campus.
SWOSU-Sayre Hosting Dawg Day on September 2
08.29.2016 - Fall classes have begun at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, and the Sayre campus is hosting Dawg Day activities Friday, September 2, to welcome new and returning students.
SWOSU-Sayre Offering Classes at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Elk City
08.05.2016 - Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre is teaming up again with Great Plains Regional Medical Center to offer college classes in Elk City.
Students Chosen for SWOSU-Sayre Radiology Program
07.07.2016 - Sixteen students were recently accepted into the Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre Radiologic Technology program.
Former Teacher and Current SWOSU Student Named Outstanding Student by AMT
06.30.2016 - Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre student Rachel Randall of Hollis was recently named the winner of the Outstanding Student Award in the Medical Laboratory Technologist category from the American Medical Technologists.
SWOSU-Sayre Receives $20,000 Grant
06.22.2016 - Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Sayre recently received financial help to improve and modernize facilities in Patterson Field House.
Jeremy Bussey to Speak at SWOSU-Sayre Graduation
04.27.2016 - Jeremy Bussey, principal of Hydro-Eakly High School, will give the graduation address at the Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre campus 73rd Spring Convocation on Friday, May 6.
Sanders, Gieswein Awarded $3,000 in SWOSU-Sayre Scholarships
04.18.2016 - Brandy Sanders and Paul Gieswein, both of Elk City, were recently awarded Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre Foundation scholarships for continuing students.
SWOSU-Sayre Hosting College Fair
04.08.2016 - Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre is giving away information, sweets and college treats at its first College Fair.
Randall Named SWOSU-Sayre MLT Outstanding Student
03.28.2016 - Rachel Randall of Hollis was recently named the 2016 Southwestern Oklahoma State University-Sayre Outstanding Medical Laboratory Technician Student.
Students from Merritt, Hammon and Erick Win Timed WARP
03.25.2016 - Students from Merritt, Hammon and Erick high schools were the top three finishers at SWOSU-Sayre's annual Timed WARP (Writing and Research Program) writing competition for 2016.
SWOSU-Sayre to Host Writing Competition
02.26.2016 - Southwestern Oklahoma State University at Sayre will hold its 16th annual Timed WARP (writing and research project) event for area high school juniors on Tuesday, March 8.


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More on UFC 170 - Rousey vs. McMann
UFC 170: The Forum Threads
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Jordan Breen and Greg Savage returned to the Sherdog Radio Network Tuesday for another edition of "Cheap Seats." On this edition of the program...
Podcast: Mike Pyle, T.J. Waldburger
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Cheap Seats Blog: Rashad Evans Predicts NFL Wildcard Playoff Round
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Rashad Evans is joined by Fox Sports reporter Kavita Channe in examining the 2014 NFL Playoff Wildcard Round.
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Rosamunde Pilcher has become one of the world's most cherished storytellers, for her tales - filled with all the beauty and wistful promises of true love - are always told straight from the heart. This is the tale of Selina Bruce, who has impulsively left behind her lawyer financé in London and flown to a tiny island off the Spanish coast, searching for the father she'd never known. What she finds is an unexpected truth about herself and the man she planned to marry.
"Abridged, but light fun"


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Praying God's Will for My Marriage
By (author) Lee Roberts
Format: Paperback
Checking availability...
Praying God's Will for My Marriage by Lee Roberts
Book DescriptionChristian married couples desire to build strong happy marriages on the unshakable foundation of God's Word. By focusing on that goal through these personalized prayers, spouses can build a solid relationship with God and with each other.
Buy Praying God's Will for My Marriage book by Lee Roberts from Australia's Online Bookstore, Boomerang Books.
Book DetailsISBN: 9780840792235
(171mm x 114mm x 20mm)
Pages: 313
Imprint: Thomas Nelson Publishers
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers
Publish Date: 1-Jan-1920
Country of Publication: United States
Books By Author Lee Roberts
Praying God's Will for My Life, Paperback (February 2002)
Collects hundreds of prayers, arranged by topic and based on Scripture, that provide for such needs as confidence, protection, and forgiveness, and address the specific issues faced by women and the family members they love.
Praying God's Will for My Husband, Paperback (February 2002)
No matter what your husband's needs are--encouragement, confidence, strength--the prayers contained in this book are uniquely appropriate. With hundreds of prayers grouped according to specific needs and based entirely on Scripture, you will always have within your reach a rich resource of personal, inspirational prayers.
Praying God's Will for My Daughter, Paperback (February 2002)» View all books by Lee Roberts
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Rubix Project Review
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9 Best Effective Workplace Safety Tips You Should Know
Workplace safety are not able to occur on ideal practice guidelines and policies only. A safe working environment is founded on precisely how nicely the individuals, in both management as well as on the factory floor, comply with and also connect regarding safety specifications. The base of any effective workplace safety attempt is certainly one that promotes workers to recognize dangerous behaviors as well as possibilities for development while also producing experienced safety actions in the course of regular routine tasks. Here's the 9 Best Effective Workplace Safety Tips to allow you to notify your own employees and build a workplace safety environment according to shared obligation: Be Aware Of Your Surroundings Keep Correct Posture To Protect Your Back Take Regular Breaks Use Tools And Machines Properly Keep Emergency Exits Easily Accessible Report Unsafe Conditions To Your Supervisor Use Mechanical Aids Whenever Possible Reduce Workplace Stress Wear The Correct Safety Equipment It's up to area managers and also business owners to get their workers onboard with workplace safety initiatives, motivating them to get active members along the way. Discuss along with them the workplace injury figures along with the natural risks their job presents to all of them each day. Give incentives that encourage all of them for exemplifying impressive workplace safety habits. These basic initiatives really do make most of the...
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OSHA charged WA-based contractor $203,420 for fall hazards
Puyallup, WA-based contractor was charged $203,420 by Washington State Department of Labor and Industries for thirteen violations, which includes fall hazards, on a residential development job site in Olympia, WA, based on the news. Among the charges, J & I Construction deals with 3 willful violations for insufficient appropriate fall protection for workers dealing with a 20-foot-tall wall. The company was also handed 3 recurring major violations for the lack of a fall-hazard plan, with employees at risk of wall openings as well as inappropriate ladder use. Additional violations included an absence of stair railings, the lack of safety springs on nail guns, enabling workers to operate without hard hats, as well as not having an individual on site possessing a valid first aid credential. In the meantime, announcements from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration have ceased since Jan. 19, the time before the presidential inauguration. Previous to that, the agency shared several announcements each week in relation to the outcomes of its inspections, especially around hot areas like fall protection and also worker safety. Engineering News Record said that the slow down in direct contact from OSHA, which falls under the Department of Labor, to the press might be portion of the much wider communications ban on federal agencies. However, OSHA doesn't seem to have broken pace on enforcement. Previous month, it charged St. Louis-based Fastrack Erectors the utmost $500,000 after its own breakdown to give proper fall safety led to a worker of the subcontractor falling above 30 feet to his...
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It's OSHA Workplace 300A Annual Summary of Injuries and Illnesses Time
Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Form 300A should be posted by Covered employers between February 1 and April 30, 2017. Form 300A is an outline of the whole number of job-related injuries as well as illnesses that happened throughout a single year at each and every workplace. The notice needs to be published in a noticeable spot exactly where notices to workers are often posted. Employers should ensure that the posting is not changed, vandalized, or perhaps covered by some other material. The next page of OSHA's Form 300A is an outline where employers should put down the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that happened in 2016 and also were recorded on the OSHA Form 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. On top of that it needs information about the yearly average number of workers and also overall hours worked throughout the calendar year. Employers may possibly come into "zero" on the entire line if there have been no recordable injuries or illnesses in the course of the specific year. Employers may choose to take notice that a company management have to sign and then certify the Form 300A. The company management who signs the form can be: (1) any officer of the corporation ; (2) the highest-ranking company official employed in the establishment ; (3) the direct supervisor of the highest-ranking company official employed in the establishment ; or perhaps (4) an owner of the company in the event that the company is a sole proprietorship or maybe partnership. Employers with ten or lesser workers as well as employers in certain low-hazard sectors are...
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Trump's Executive Order to cut regulations potential impact on OSHA
On January 30, President Donald Trump released an Executive Order meant to try to make good on his pledge to minimize government regulations. What's the possible effect on OSHA ? The order requires that "for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations be identified for elimination, and that the cost of planned regulations be prudently managed and controlled through a budgeting process." The so-called "two for one" order affects executive departments and agencies, such as OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency. It states that, "For fiscal year 2017, which is in progress, the heads of all agencies are directed that the total incremental cost of all new regulations, including repealed regulations, to be finalized this year shall be no greater than zero, unless otherwise required by law or consistent with advice provided in writing by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget." The obvious purpose is that the charges for new regulation be neutralize by the removing of present rules. Particular exemption apply. Opposition to the Executive Order was summed up by heads the Center for Progressive Reform, Robert Verchick. He commented that, "It seeks to ration the American people's health and safety by forcing agencies to arbitrarily drop rules, even if those regulations prevent illnesses, reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, or decrease the number of deaths and serious injuries in the workplace." Lately, the president notified business leaders he will probably trim down regulation by seventy five percent. OSHA watchers believe the new order, along with the Trump administration's general anti-regulatory alignment, might signal a substantial shift in agency path. Possible focuses could...
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Why Forklift Safety Certification Training Course is Important?
When you are lifting hundreds or thousands of pounds of inventory while no margin for error. In the world of forklift operation, a few centimeters can be all that separates you from your regular job and a fatal accident. To help keep workers safe, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA for its acronym in English) has designed overall training and certification guidelines for forklift operators. OSHA does not support a specific program forklift operator. Instead, it provides a list of criteria that such programs meet expected. Therefore, everything a trader needs is a curriculum "in accordance with OSHA" and approval of an employer to be considered "certified." Instructions How to Get Certified to Use Forklift Locate a company that specifically offers forklift training "according to OSHA." Study and memorize the list of daily pre-operational inspection to forklifts. Fully understand the dangers lessons in the workplace involving forklift operations. Learn how to operate the controls of the forklift and practice the use of such controls under the supervision of an instructor. Check the safe use of forklifts, including appropriate load limits and lifting techniques. Approves a written exam, and complete a practical demonstration to the employer to demonstrate mastery of the pre-operational review, handling, loading and...
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What you need to know about OSHA workers' compensation?
You definitely have a right to a safe work environment. In 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) were handed to reduce workers from getting killed or perhaps critically injured at the workplace. The Act developed a government agency to fixed and enforces safety work environment safety and health specifications, provide data, training as well as help to workers also employers. The objective was to avoid as well as reduced the number, frequency or extent of worker accidents and deaths. But, accidents at the workplace still happen. If you happen to be injured at the workplace, your special remedy against your employing company is workers' compensation, except if there is a specific agreement between the employers along with a third-party to indemnify the third-party for the damage, and just like was the case in in the 1988 Union Pacific Railroad Co. v. Kaiser Ag. Chem. Co., 229 Neb. 160 (1988). Railroads are governed by the Federal Employers' Liability Act of 1908 (FELA), instead of workers' payment, which drops under various set of rules. In a right workers' payments case, yet, the mistake of your employer is not going to provide you with a much better case against your own employer. The Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act eradicates an employee's regular law cause of motion for an employer's mistake. Consequently for this resistance, the employer is apprehended precisely accountable for payment of workers' salary advantages despite of fault Ray v. School District of Lincoln, 105 Neb. 456 (1920) including any steps for an employer's conscious tort. It happens to be because of this that your employer should have workers' compensation...
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OSHA: Dallastown man died from injuries after falling through roof
John Inners, a 47-year-old Dallastown worker passed away Wednesday after he fell through a roof while at the workplace, York City Police and OSHA are investigating the incident. Inners, an employee of Ream Roofing Associates Inc. toppled some 15 to 20 feet at around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning at the time he was working on the roof area at L. J. Allen Tire & Auto Services at 305 S. Richland Ave., in York City. EMS authorities and York City police responded to the site, and then Inners was taken to York Hospital. He died of his accidental injuries some 6 hours afterwards, at 2 :17 p.m. Wednesday, the York County Coroner's office stated in a report. York County Coroner Pamela Gay controlled the death accidental, announcing Inners died of blunt-force...
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OSHA released recommended practices to support construction industry employers
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs in Construction to support industry employers build proactive programs to preserve their workplaces safe. The ideas could be primarily beneficial to small- as well as medium-sized contractors who lack safety and medical experts on employees. Safety and health programs motivate discovering and fixing workplace hazards before they result in injuries, illnesses, and even deaths. Applying these programs likewise helps decrease the financial problems these events could potentially cause for employees, their families, and also employers. Contractors are able to do a safety and health program making use of several easy steps which include training workers on how to recognize and also manage hazards, checking the job site with workers to find problems with equipment as well as materials, and developing responses to potential urgent scenarios ahead of time. "The recommendations outlined in this document will help contractors prevent injuries and illnesses on their construction sites and make their companies more profitable," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health . The suggested procedures for a safety and health program are convenient which enables you to be realigned to match small and large construction companies managing short-term or perhaps multi-year projects. Working together with workers to apply a program provide other benefits, including improvements in production as well as quality ; higher employee morale ; enhanced employee recruiting and retention ; as well as a more competitive image and reputation among clients, suppliers, along with the community. These solely advisory and do not provide any new lawful responsibilities or...
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Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMSAcoustic micromixer for enhancement of DNA biochip systems
|Member Price
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Paper Abstract
Microfluidics is emerging as one of the fastest growing segments of micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technologies due to its potential applications in biotechnology, chemical microreactors, and drug discovery. Micromixing is one of the most challenging problems in microfluidic systems, since it is a diffusion-limited process and can be very inefficient. A micromixing device based on an acoustic microstreaming principle is developed to enhance micromixing. The micromixer uses air bubbles as actuators that can be set into vibration by a sound field. The vibration of the air bubbles generates steady circulatory flows, resulting in global convection flows and thus rapid mixing. The time to fully mix dyed solutions in a 50-μL shallow chamber using acoustic microstreaming is significantly reduced from hours (a pure diffusion-based mixing) to 6 s. We demonstrate the use of this micromixer to enhance the performance of conventional DNA microarray biochips that often suffer from lengthy hybridization and poor signal uniformity due to a diffusion-limited hybridization process. Experiments showed that the acoustic micromixer results in five-fold hybridization signal enhancement with significantly improved signal uniformity, as compared to conventional diffusion-based biochips. Acoustic microstreaming has many advantages over most existing micromixing techniques, including a simple apparatus, ease of implementation, low power consumption (~ 2 mW), and low cost.
Paper Details
Date Published: 1 July 2003
PDF: 7 pages
J. Micro/Nanolith. 2(3) doi: 10.1117/1.1582467
Published in: Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS Volume 2, Issue 3
PDF: 7 pages
J. Micro/Nanolith. 2(3) doi: 10.1117/1.1582467
Published in: Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS Volume 2, Issue 3
Show Author Affiliations
Robin Hui Liu, Motorola Labs. (United States)
Ralf Lenigk, Motorola Labs. (United States)
Ralf Lenigk, Motorola Labs. (United States)
Piotr A. Grodzinski, Motorola Labs. (United States)
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The appeal to Jude Law of playing Hamlet must have been the absence of vulgarity. In the darkness of the auditorium he would be treated as a theatre actor rather than a soap opera. And, indeed, his performance was textbook perfect – a little cautiously so. I noticed he had a graceful athleticism about him, but put that to the back of my mind.
Anyway, Law kept himself in check and was mildly reproached by some critics for the lack of sexual chemistry with Ophelia. So that makes a change.
The newspaper coverage Law envisaged must have been on the lines of: "Triumphant return to the stage." In his worst nightmares, he cannot have imagined the Sun's headline last week: "Jude knows he's been a Bard boy." Instead of Shakespeare forming a barrier between the actor and the popular press, the playwright has become the journalist's friend. "Alas, poor Jude, he is not well" began the Sun story about Law and the American model Samantha Burke, who has announced that she is carrying his child.
It seems to me that Law has made several miscalculations, apart from the obvious one. He thought that a run at the Donmar West End would diminish the public appetite. On the contrary, Donmar is the Vogue of the theatre world, it could not be more glamorous. If Jude had wanted to be obscure, he should have opted for the Savoy – or, these days, I'm afraid, the Almeida.
Rachel Weisz received more global attention last week for her performance in Donmar's Streetcar Named Desire than for her film roles. Acting ability raises your market value. Jordan would have to work her way through the entire British Olympic team to match the news interest around Helen Mirren's Phèdre.
There is another lesson for Law. I see no point in confining yourself to high art professionally if you then behave like a perplexed footballer in your private life. Law is not peculiarly promiscuous or accident prone. There are many other actors who are worse behaved. That is why they are actors, rather than civil servants. What makes him a Law unto himself is that he does not restrict his sexual relationships to his own circle.
It is the oldest rule of affairs that they are only safely conducted with those who have as much to lose as yourself. If Law had stuck to his leading ladies, none of this would have happened. No gun-at-the-head PR announcements about his delight at becoming a father, no fresh hell from celebrity websites.
His delight at finding the sweet shop always open is almost Clintonian. He is famous and he is handsome: is he surprised that he can always find women to hand? It is not a question of morality, but of discretion, the very thing he most craves.
Samantha Burke is a young model and actress from Florida who has attended an acting course to equip her for commercials and soap opera. She is already chatting away on her website about the pregnancy and has apparently named the child in advance. This is not Jackie Kennedy.
Law's troublesome nanny similarly felt that she had nothing to hide about their relationship. It is no use him refusing interviews and covering his head with a beanie hat when the women with whom he mixes are singing like skylarks.
The irritation for Jude Law, apart from the money and the complication, is that his Hamlet has been eclipsed by the hammer and tongs. He knows now that there's no protection in privacy: if only he had practised exclusivity.
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Can a vegan person get a good meal at this restaurant?
Can a vegetarian person get a good meal at this restaurant?
Is this restaurant romantic?
Is this restaurant wheelchair accessible?
Is this a Chinese restaurant?
Is this restaurant good for brunch?
Is this restaurant good for large groups?
Is this restaurant good for lunch?
Does this restaurant have a full bar?
Is this restaurant good for dinner?
Thanks for helping!
3 Days in New Delhi
Shopping Guide for New Delhi
New Delhi Off the Beaten Path
Drool is a decent eating place with good ambience and eye catching interior. Helpful and friendly staff and a good chef. Usually go to this place for Drool's Brownie which is must try.
Yup that's a nice restaurant in Dwarka area of the city, just beneath the sec 10 metro station. it offers tasty food and a good ambience. Worth trying
This has been our go to place to hang out with friends. The best part is that it is right under the metro station and serves alcohol too. I absolutely love their selection of teas and their french fries with cheese and chicken. Their pastries are also nice. The ambiance and seating is good. Service is slow at times.
Great Food and great Ambiance.
For past six years I traveled to Noida by metro from Sec 10 Metro station, but never knew about this restaurant.
The food is delicious.
Been here yesterday, ambience wise it was pretty cool. A friend of mine reffered me to this place, it was easy to reach here, its located at Sector 10 Metro station. We were a group of three ladies and ordered aam panna mojito, one more mocktail (dont rem the name) chicken three ways and chicken breast. Servicee was good except...
The interiors are awesome....the best place to watch matches. The round table is my place and I just love the butter chicken
The ambience is good for friends and family alike. The menu is varied with Asian, Italian and Indian. Indian food is good but loved the phad Thai noodles and Thai green curry. Not too heavy on the pocket too. Will definitely visit it again.
Really great place for comfort food. This obviously is not fine dining, but this is really tasty. Best place I've been to in Dwarka.
The food is awesome
They have tried to present good ambience but it's just about ok
It's inside metro station premises right under metro track so there is both lack of space and every now n then a metro comes disturbing the peace
However the food is very very good
Roti is whole wheat
Quantity is ample
Menu has a...
You can come for a beer, or a full dinner. Tasty food, and the prices is reasonable. Not to spicy, so don´t hesitate to try anything on the menu. Very helpful staff. Clean and safe.
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On Second Thought is a one-hour, daily news talk show that airs at 9 a.m. ET weekdays.
Our unlikely British sleuths are back on Saturday nights starting at 7 PM.
The GHSA state championships for football are right around the corner. There are 16 teams left on the road to the Georgia Dome and by late Saturday night all eight champions for 2016 will be... MORE
GPB Passport is the new member benefit that provides you with extended access to an on-demand library of quality local and national public television programming, including tens of thousands of hours of your favorite programs.
Sun., September 30, 2012 8:00pm
Patrick Swayze's Widow Speaks In Macon
Lisa Niemi, widow of actor Patrick Swayze, will deliver the keynote address at a symposium on end-of-life issues at Macon State College.
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Jhalak Dikkhla Jaa 7 exclusive News
Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7: Siddharth Shukla, Drashti Dhami, Karan Tacker chilling on the sets – View pics!
A sneak peek at the contestants of Jhalak whiling away time on the sets…
Be it sexy, goofy, friendly or the oh-so-famous selfies, the Jhalak contestants surely know to strike a pose in many ways. Click here to read more


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Focus 2007 - Fujifilm S5700 / S700, Z5, F40d
Latest Camera Reviews
Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ82 Review
Mac users, we're pleased to announce Macphun's all-in-one photo editor Luminar is now available for just $69£52 with special Valentine Day bonuses (two eBooks, Vivid Wonderland preset pack, & Creative Sky Overlay pack) included for free until February 19. Use coupon code "PHOTOBLOG" to save another $10 on Luminar.
We rated Luminar as "Highly Recommended". Visit the Luminar web site to try it for free.
Fujifilm were the other big camera name at Focus. They were showing the S5700 / S700 camera that was announced last week (although not the A900 or A820). It was next to the older S5600 model and was noticeably smaller and lighter, yet still retaining a 10x zoom lens and with a much larger LCD screen. The other highlights were the F40d and Z5 (first announced at CES in early January). Fujifilm were also keen to point out that a growing number of models had the new dual xD / SD memory card slot, citing demand from repeat buyers with a vested interest in SD cards as the principal reason. Finally, the new S5 Pro DSLR has already crept onto the store shelves, with retailer Jacobs offering it for a show special of £999 body only.
Website: Focus on Imaging 2007 Report


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Too many people worship guns instead of God. Still, Jesus and the disciples were stronger then all the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. The Cross lobby will still prevail against the gun lobby.
Read Whole Story
Just as our gun culture has changed for the worse, it can also change for the better. If the common-sense majority can just shake off this paralyzing mantle of powerlessness, we can start making the changes we want in our world.
Given that all attempts to ban military-style firearms have failed miserably, we must look to a new approach. One possibility: stop trying to define illegal firearms. Rather, do the opposite.
We recommit ourselves to the Christian faith at Christmas time and then are called to live out that faith into the world.
It's a bad week when I asked myself what was stopping something like this from happening at the elementary school my children attend in Austin, and I couldn't come up with an answer.
Must we treat the Constitution, and its Second Amendment, as static and sacrosanct, as the bloodshed spirals onward? From a historical perspective, the answer is no.
As details continue to emerge about Roberts, the 22 year-old gyro cook identified by police as the gunman who fatally shot two people and then himself, much of the media's speculation has centered on the rather unremarkable contents of his Facebook page.
My former boss, Steve Forsyth, was killed at the mall shooting yesterday in Portland. When I saw this on the news, it was impossible to believe. Steve was larger than life... invincible, in a way, to those who knew him.
Oregon is mourning the loss of a hospice nurse and a youth coach who were both killed in a shooting at a mall outside of Portland on Tuesday.
It re...
Jacob Roberts, who police said is responsible for a fatal shooting spree at an Oregon mall, may have been set off by a recent break-up with a girlfrie...
Police have identified Jacob Tyler Roberts as the gunman who fatally shot two people at a crowded Oregon mall Tuesday before killing himself minutes l...
The shooting Tuesday at the Clackamas Town Center in Oregon was over almost as quickly as it began. The horror of the shooting, however, won't go away...
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The awe-inspiring beauty of the Grand Canyon is skin deep. Apart from the picturesque terrain, the flora and fauna found within its premises are short of amazing too. Everywhere you go, there is a chance for appreciation and learning. These are just some of the reasons why you should take a hike to the Grand Canyon!
To fully optimize your visit to this natural wonder, here are tips you need to follow for your next trip!
- Never be afraid to take a hike
The immense size of the Grand Canyon may be intimidating, but if you are with experienced guides, you can cover much if this natural wonder through hiking. If you have enough time in your hands, you may a well hike into the canyon. Here are some of the most popular trails you can sign up with during your stay:
- Bright Angel Trail
- South Kaibab Trail
- Never drive
Instead of brining your vehicle with you, it may be a better alternative to take the bus tour instead. If you're on a vacation, the last thing that you want is to drive while everybody else in your group is soaking up on all the beauty and magnificence of the surroundings. The Grand Canyon National Park has hundreds of buses that allow its guests to see the many wonders of the national park.
- Don't forget the South Rim
If you want to make sure that every person in your group enjoy their trip to the Grand Canyon, do not forget to visit the different attractions of the South Rim. As this part of the national park receives a huge number of people on a daily basis, it does not run short of programs and activities. From whitewater rafting along the Colorado River to bathing under the mystic waters of the Havasu Falls (Supai Falls), you will find that a day or two trip around the South Rim is fun and worthwhile.


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14 Jun 2012
From BirdLife Zimbabwe's diary...
By Venancia.Ndoo
1 May
: The BirdLife Zimbabwe Education Department was invited to the World Environment Day Press Conference by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management. During this event, BirdLife Zimbabwe shared the success of the Bird Awareness Programme in influencing sustainable natural resources management by the community in one unprotected IBA – the Driefontein Grasslands. The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management was delighted to hear this and urged members of the media to follow up on this report.
4 June
: The 2012 World Environment Day celebrations were held at the Harare Botanical Gardens. This was an opportunity for BirdLife Zimbabwe to further showcase the success of its Bird Awareness Programme (BAP) to more stakeholders. The Director in the Ministry of Environment asked BirdLife Zimbabwe to present to the gathering the success of the Bird Awareness Programme in the Driefontein Grasslands IBA. Farmers, schools and companies were interested in the bird conservation programme and asked for more literature about our projects. Four schools attended the commemorations including two BAP schools. The Ministry of Environment is pleased with the work that BirdLife Zimbabwe is doing. Along with these commemorations, the Minister of Environment Mr. F.D.C. Nhema also launched the 3rd Zimbabwe Environmental Outlook that highlights the state of the environment.
5 June
: BirdLife Zimbabwe, in partnership with Mukuvisi Woodlands Association, organised the commemorations of the World Environment Day with some more schools. This event was held at Maranatha Junior School and seven schools attended the event. BirdLife Zimbabwe presented on bird migration to the thrill of school children who were delighted to see the link between bird migration and their geography studies on climate/weather. To boost the interest of schools in the Wildlife Clubs project, BirdLife Zimbabwe made agreements with the owner of Haka Game Park to allow schools free entry into the park. Three schools immediately joined the BAP programme and promised to arrange for a trip to Haka Game Park!
7 June
: The Birdlife Zimbabwe Education Department in conjunction with Mukuvisi Woodlands officiated the launch of Bird Awareness Programme as well as the Eco-Schools Programme at Warren Park High School. This was a follow up to the presentation made by BirdLife Zimbabwe at the Schools WED commemorations. BirdLife Zimbabwe exhibited some bird specimens, the most attractive to school children being owls and the Kori Bustard. The event was well attended by students and teachers from this school. Later we visited the Maranatha Junior School. To show that this school had embraced the Bird Awareness Programme, the club patron Mr. Sibanda organised representatives of each class into the environmental quiz club. Today the team met to start preparing for the competition. The first topic they worked on was ornithology mainly because that was the area on which they had a lot of literature donated to them by BirdLife Zimbabwe! All in all, these events showed that the Bird Awareness Programme is very popular with the government, the teachers and the school children alike!
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Nurk T.,Institute of the Estonian Language
Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications | Year: 2012
The article describes the creation of Hidden Markov Model based speech models for both male and female voice for Estonian text-to-speech synthesis. A brief overview of text-to-speech synthesis process is given, focusing on statistical parametric synthesis in particular. System HTS is employed to generate voice models. The creation of speech corpus of Institute of the Estonian Language is analyzed. The process of adapting Estonian-related training data and linguistic specification to HTS is described, as well as experiments carried out on data from different speakers, subcorpora and linguistic specifications. The findings from speech model evaluation are given and possible courses of action to improve the quality of HMM-based speech models trained are proposed. © 2012 The Authors and IOS Press. Source
Tamuri K.,Institute of the Estonian Language
Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications | Year: 2012
Currently the Estonian Emotional Speech Corpus is investigated for the distinctive acoustic parameters of three emotions-anger, joy and sadness-and neutral speech, with a view to recognizable synthesis of emotions in Estonian speech. This article is focused on intensity as one of the parameters vital for emotion synthesis. The research question is whether the intensity of Estonian read speech is in any way affected by emotions. The Estonian Emotional Speech Corpus was used as the acoustic basis of the study. The intensity analysis comprised calculations of the means and ranges of the intensities of emotional and neutral speech. In addition, pairwise studies were applied to find out whether intensity differs across emotions and in comparison with neutral speech in utterance-initial and utterance-final positions. The results revealed that mean intensities make a significant difference between concrete emotions as well as in comparison with neutral speech. The highest intensity was measured in neutral speech and the lowest in the utterances of sadness. Intensity ranges, however, were not significantly different between the utterance groups analysed. Intensity at the beginning and end of utterance was also the highest in neutral speech and the lowest with sadness. Those two groups displayed the only statistically significant differences between the intensities of utterance beginnings as well as ends. © 2012 The Authors and IOS Press. Source
Viikberg J.,Institute of the Estonian Language
Keel ja Kirjandus | Year: 2014
In most countries a tip or gratuity (Est. 'jootraha') is an extra amount of money given to someone as a reward for good service. Usually the sum is small and goes straight to the attendant (waiter, taxi driver, hairdresser). In Estonian the word (in the form of yotoraa) was first recorded in the 16 th century and is a loan translation from Low German (cf. drink-, drinke-gelt 'Trinkgeld'). Initially the word was used in the sense of a sacrifice (drink offering) to house fairies, but later it acquired the meaning of extra money given to the attendant for buying himself a drink. As beer was a customary drink at that time, we may very well call the extra allowance beer money. The Low German loan translation jooduraha can be related to an earlier Estonian word joot (PL usu. joodud) that meant offering food and drink to guests on some family occasion (christening, wedding) or celebrating the completion of a major work (e.g. the building of a boat or a windmill). We can find examples in the folk tradition that jootu joodi ('a drink was had') also to ensure the success of a forthcoming undertaking (seal hunting, letting the cattle out for the first time in spring). By the 19th century the word jooduraha had basically acquired the meaning of a reward to someone (errand boy, postman, coachman) in return for a service. The word jootraha first appeared in dictionaries in 1917. Today (young) Estonians often use the word tipp (< English tip) instead of jootraha. Source
Mihkla M.,Institute of the Estonian Language |
Hein I.,Institute of the Estonian Language |
Kiissel I.,Institute of the Estonian Language |
Rapp A.,North Estonian Association of the Blind
Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications | Year: 2014
Systems for automatic reading and broadcasting subtitles (spoken subtitles) are meant to eliminate the language barrier that TV-viewers with special needs (such as the visually handicapped and the dyslectics) may experience in watching TV films or broadcasts in foreign languages that are provided with subtitles. In such systems, a speech signal synchronised with TV subtitles is generated through a separate audio channel. The present article focuses on the questions that have arisen during the development and application of the system of spoken subtitles for Estonian Public Broadcasting: selection of a TTS system and of a synthetic voice, synchronization between the subtitles and synthetic speech utterances, and the marking of speaking turns. Such subjects as the editor interface of the system for automatic reading and broadcasting subtitles as well as the foreign names pronunciation database are also included. © 2014 The Authors and IOS Press. Source
Bimler D.,Massey University |
Uuskula M.,Institute of the Estonian Language
Journal of the Optical Society of America A: Optics and Image Science, and Vision | Year: 2014
Cross-cultural comparisons of color perception and cognition often feature versions of the "similarity sorting" procedure. By interpreting the assignment of two color samples to different groups as an indication that the dissimilarity between them exceeds some threshold, sorting data can be regarded as low-resolution similarity judgments. Here we analyze sorting data from speakers of Italian, Russian, and English, applying multidimensional scaling to delineate the boundaries between perceptual categories while highlighting differences between the three populations. Stimuli were 55 color swatches, predominantly from the blue region. Results suggest that at least two Italian words for "blue" are basic, a similar situation to Russian, in contrast to English where a single "blue" term is basic. © 2014 Optical Society of America. Source


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We cannot remain a proper democracy, because we are not one in the first place. Britain is a monarchy with an elected government. We do not enjoy a fraction of the participative democracy enjoyed by most of our European neighbours. One of the reasons for joining the Union for many of us is a wish for real democracy here.
The single currency is a real necessity for all business, especially small and medium-sized. As one who manages the finances of such a business I can confirm that the big ones will deal in the euro whether we join or not. It is the rest of us that stand to lose by not joining.
Language is indeed very important. But since we are custodians of the world language it really does not matter very much how many other languages we speak.
Miss Hamnett is right that the Government has become insufferable. But - has she not noticed? - all our governments become so because we have no separation of powers and no participative democracy. All we ever have is a weak opposition crying in the wilderness, ignored by the Government and, more importantly, the Treasury.
Any serious person who believes that British political institutions, cobbled together in the eighteenth century are something to be proud of should ask themselves who copies us today. We live in a country riddled with strands of unaccountable power and influence. By joining Europe we shall eventually have to reform. This is why the Tories and their allies are against the Union and the currency.
London SW6Reuse content


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Oh that's terrible. I'm sorry to hear. Much strength to you and your little girl.
Oh that's terrible. I'm sorry to hear. Much strength to you and your little girl.
Sorry to hear, sending love and strength x
Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! Hugs! Love and strength to you and your family.
Best wishes for your little one. Thinking of you & your family!
Oh what a shock. Thinking of you all.
Sorry to hear that, fingers crossed it's just a scare & that she's going to be perfectly fine
Big hugs, wishing you all the best for some good news.
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Sending you hugs and positive vibes x
Sending love to your whole family <3 How scary it must be.
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He might not have much chance of winning, and he may not command the same attention in the news cycle, but there's another hopeful in the 2016 presidential election besides Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump: libertarian Gary Johnson, a socially liberal, fiscal conservative whose campaign rests on the idea that he can bridge the divide between the left and the right. Unfortunately, the branding of the Johnson campaign wasn't getting that idea across, so as a fun exercise, the Florida-based branding agency Spark decided to mock up an identity for him.
Then things got weird. Without crediting Spark or paying for the work, a contractor for the Johnson campaign stole Spark's brand identity wholesale. To add insult to injury, the contractor didn't even steal the work correctly. The execution was so bad, Spark felt obliged to publicly release a style guide to its own pilfered work, in the hopes that the Johnson campaign would start using it right.
In a statement to Co.Design, the Johnson campaign acknowledged the screw-up. "At the senior level of the campaign, we were completely unaware until receiving a media inquiry Saturday evening that our website contractor had seen and clearly used the concept and design ideas posted on the web by Spark," said Joe Hunter, communications director for the Johnson campaign. "Upon seeing the obvious connection, we immediately contacted Spark and have since had a very constructive conversation with them—hopefully with no hard feelings. It was never our intent to use anyone's creative work, spec or otherwise, without giving appropriate credit, and we regret that our contractor apparently failed to communicate our desire to use Spark's work. It won't happen again, and we look forward to continued conversations with Spark about putting their excellent work to good use in the campaign."
Between the time the Johnson campaign sent me that statement and I wrote this story, the official website for Gary Johnson has tweaked its design. For instance, it has a new color scheme. However, many other elements, including a two-color design and the use of fonts, remain identical.
Spark's spec work for the Johnson campaign began as a feature for the latest issue of the agency's regular publication, Stick Quarterly. The theme of the issue was "underdogs." "We noticed that Hillary and Trump are dominating the conversation," says Elliott Bedinghaus, Spark's vice president of creative, tells me in an interview. "Hillary, of course, has a very well-crafted brand. Trump, uh, not so much, but he's loud and gets attention. It got us wondering: What could a strong brand do for an underdog like Gary Johnson? Because in our view, he didn't have a brand, and was in desperate need of one."
Spark's spec identity for the Johnson campaign embraced the candidate's position as a middleman between the right and the left. The identity uses a background split between red and blue, with Gary Johnson's last name bridging the gap in purple. The "on" in Johnson is separated by the chromatic split from the rest of the word. Along with a short message from the candidate in white serving as a bold headline, Spark's identity quickly conveys to voters where Johnson stands on various political issues like border patrol, health care, abortion, and more. So, for example, an ad might literally read, "A big wall will only produce bigger ladders—Johnson on Border Patrol."
But that's not how the Johnson campaign is using it. As of noon yesterday, Johnson's campaign website had adopted Spark's red, white, blue, and purple motif— which has since been changed to yellow and blue—as well as Spark's choice of Hurme Geometric Sans for a typeface. But it ignored the central concept of the identity: that the way the red and blue split Johnson's name in half to show where Johnson stands on the issue. Spark thinks that a contractor for the Johnson campaign liked how it looked, but didn't actually get what made it work. This casual ineptitude finally prompted an exasperated Spark to put up a charmingly passive-aggressive website called "Hey Gary, Let's Talk," making all of their spec assets available for the Johnson campaign to download. If the designers were going to be ripped off, they wanted to at least be ripped off correctly.
Spark heard from the Johnson campaign after "Hey Gary, Let's Talk" launched. "They apologized for taking the work, and we're currently working with them to try to come to a solution," Bedinghaus says. "They've been humble, so it's been an amicable exchange." Bedinghaus says they don't want payment for the work—despite the exercise, their agency has no interest in getting involved in politics—just for that work to be acknowledged and executed properly. "What happened was surprising and upsetting to us, but our intent was to show that a brand can be a powerful force to create change, so by using it properly going forward on a national stage, we hope this will serve as a case study for our industry."
And hey, at least it was Johnson, not Trump who stole their ideas. "Based on the way he's managed other aspects of his campaign, and his history paying contractors, I think we can make some assumptions about how that dialog would have gone," Bedinghaus laughs.
[All Images: via Stick Quarterly]