USC College of Engineering researchers are part of a national team that is working to develop technologies that will be able to examine the structural integrity of bridges. The research is being funded over five years by a $14 million dollar federal grant. USC’s portion of the grant is $4 million dollars. The other funds will go to the University of Miami, Virginia Tech, and the Physical Acoustics Corporation of Princeton, New Jersey. An important part of the project is the development of wireless sensors that can detect flaws in bridge. USC Engineering professor Dr. Paul Ziehl (zeal) says each institution has a specific role in the research program.”Te University of Miami and ourselves are heavily involved in gathering the information, making sense of the information and what is generally called ” bridge prognostics.” In other words, determining the health of the bridge at this time and projecting that into the future.” [Read more...]
Smithsonian finds national treasures in SC
For the first time ever, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is coming to South Carolina for the “Save Our African American Treasures Program.”
“A national collections initiative of discovery and preservation, and what that means is we asks local residents to identify and preserve items of historical and/or cultural significance that they can have in their home, that might be tucked away in their attic or their closets or basements, and they come to our program and we have reviewers there who will look at their items and have them learn something about their item and they will go away understanding how to preserve those items,” says museum spokeswoman Esther Washington. [Read more...]
USDA awards upstate elementary school
A Pickens County elementary school received one of the most prestigious awards the U.S. Department of Agriculture offers this morning. USDA Deputy Under Secretary Dr. Janey Thornton was on hand to award A.R. Lewis Elementary School the Gold Award for meeting the highest standards of creating a healthy environment for students. Thornton says that A.R. Lewis has met the high standards set forth to win this award.
“They have applied and won the ‘Healthier U.S. Gold Award’ which is a very prestigious award among elementary school nutrition programs nation wide,” said Dr. Thornton. “There are pretty stringent standards set by USDA for both health–physical activity and nutrition–and this school met the mark.” [Read more...]
DNR: Dam removal in PCB cleanup no threat
PCB clean up is a drawn-out process. Officials say it will be likely next year before the visible work begins on Twelve Mile Creek in Pickens County. Two century-old dams will be removed as part of the plan to allow fresh sediment to flow into Lake Hartwell and cover the PCB contaminated lake bottom. There are eight federal “Superfund” PCB cleanup sites: Twelve mile creek and the original Sangamo Weston capacitor plant site in Pickens, as well as half a dozen disposal sites. Self says the federal cleanup efforts will continue for several more years. The French company Schlumberger now owns the plant once owned by Sangamo. [Read more...]
Payday lending slips under wire this year
To the surprise of some statehouse observers, a payday lending bill was passed this year, darting under the wire on the last day of the regular legislative year. That marks the first additional restrictions put on the industry since state lawmakers first allowed its existence in 1998. It’s now a $155 million industry.The House passed legislation four months earlier but it took that long for the House and Senate to agree on a plan. [Read more...]
