Engineer to research ways to stabilize
cliffs
The number of deaths and destroyed homes continues to climb as
the picturesque Southern California coastline crumbles. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency estimates that a quarter of the homes
within 500 feet of the U.S. coast could be lost to erosion in the
next 50 years.
In response to this dilemma, structural engineers with the UCSD
Jacobs School of Engineering are embarking on a new study to
determine the best ways to stabilize these fragile cliffs. The
results will culminate in a comprehensive, publicly accessible,
guidebook.
The San Diego communities most affected by bluff instability are
Encinitas, Del Mar, Solana Beach, and parts of La Jolla and the
City of San Diego.
“It’s obvious that a major problem exists, but
repairs are typically only approved in emergency situations because
of concerns over damaging the bluffs or destroying the natural
beauty of the coastline,” said Scott Ashford, project leader
and professor of geotechnical engineering at the Jacobs School.
“Therefore, one of our major goals is to pinpoint the most
efficient and effective ways to resolve this growing crisis, while
maintaining the environmental integrity of the
landscape.”
Historians put human face on Africa’s
pain
The West tends to write off Africa, according to a UCLA
historian, because the continent is so often portrayed in terms of
generalizations, but it need not be.
“If you can put an individual face on Africa, you can get
past those generalizations,” said William H. Worger, an
associate professor of history at UCLA. “So instead of
viewing the whole continent as a basket case, you get a much
greater understanding of these people’s sufferings and their
aspirations, and you also get a much clearer picture of the
potential for change.”
That’s the philosophy behind a new documentary history
edited by Worger with two other researchers linked to the James S.
Coleman African Studies Center. “Africa and the West: A
Documentary History From the Slave Trade to Independence”
explores the 500-year relationship between Africa and the West, not
in a dry history but in the poignant voices of the people who lived
to tell the tale.
University avoids higher electricity bills
A long-term contract signed before electricity prices
skyrocketed has enabled the University of California to avoid
millions of dollars in higher electricity bills, UC President
Richard C. Atkinson said Wednesday.
But Atkinson warned UC Regents meeting in San Francisco that
expiration of a contract administered by the state Department of
General Services may confront some UC campuses with much higher
costs this year for natural gas.
The university protected itself against big fluctuations in the
price of electricity starting in 1998, when, together with the
California State University, it signed a four-year contract with
energy supplier Enron Corp. of Houston. The contract locked in
prices over a four-year period ending March 31, 2002.
Under the contract, for instance, UCSD saved $12.3 million
during the eight-month period between April and November 2000 by
not having to pay higher electricity rates resulting from
deregulation.
UC is one of the largest users of energy in the state, consuming
approximately 332 megawatts of electricity systemwide per hour at
peak usage. The university generates more than 100 megawatts of
that amount on its own, through generation plants on several
campuses, including UCLA, UC Davis, the UC Davis Medical Center, UC
San Francisco and Berkeley.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.