Warfare Center summer program participants show off innovations
Panama City (Fla.) News Herald – Aug. 1
…This year, 21 students participated in the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Summer Partnership Employment Program, or SPEP, which was expanded to include college students, as well as high school students, for the first time…Daniel Bush, a math major entering his sophomore year at the University of Alabama, said he worked on landing craft air cushion systems, and his work emphasized computer programming and software testing. Bush, a graduate of Arnold High School, said he enjoys problem-solving and seeing his work in action. “I was able to do a lot more stuff that’s actually being put to use this year,” said Bush, who also interned in the program last year… Photo: Daniel Bush, 19, a rising sophomore at the University of Alabama, on Thursday explains how he created a computer program that reads raw binary code into a usable form. Binary code is used in software and computing.
State’s housing market declines
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 1
…According to data from the Alabama Center for Real Estate at the University of Alabama, statewide home sales for the second quarter of 2008 totaled 12,873 units. That’s 4,089 fewer than the 16,962 homes sold during the second quarter of 2007. The decline has led center officials to revise 2008 statewide sales projections to 44,000-46,000 units. Grayson Glaze, the center’s director, said the housing market’s performance in July will hold the key for the rest of 2008. ‘The degree of declining sales warrants broader concern for the state’s real estate market,’ said Glaze in the center’s June housing report. ‘Upcoming July figures will be critical for determining how total sales will look at the end of the year.’…Glaze said a consistent reduction in that supply would be the clearest sign of a turnaround in the state housing market. ‘At least three consecutive months below 8.5 months supply could provide a sign that the market is beginning to gain traction toward stabilization,’ he said. Glaze said he could not predict when the state might see such an inventory reduction. In light of the underperforming second quarter, he said the market could weaken further before a turnaround becomes possible. ‘The state, as it stands today, is in uncharted territory, so a hard projection as to a ‘bottom’ is premature,’ Glaze said.