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Plum Island Animal Disease Center
Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) is a United States federal research facility dedicated to the study of foreign animal diseases of livestock. It is part of the Department of Homeland Security Directorate for Science and Technology, and operates as a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The facility's director is Dr. Larry Barrett. Since 1954, the center has been tasked with protecting America's livestock from animal diseases. During the Cold War, a secret biological weapons program targeting livestock was conducted at the site, which ended in 1969 when President Nixon declared an end to the United States' offensive bioweapons program. Today the facility maintains laboratories up to biosafety level 3, but has remained controversial as a result of its high risk work and proximity to the New York metropolitan area. The facility is slated for closure in 2023, with work moving to the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility under construction in Manhattan, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Department Of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management. It began operations in 2003, formed as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, enacted in response to the September 11 attacks. With more than 240,000 employees, DHS is the third-largest Cabinet department, after the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Homeland security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council. Other agencies with significant homeland security responsibilities include the Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Energy. History Creation In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 54,100. The city was founded by settlers from the New England Emigrant Aid Company as a Free-State town in the 1850s, during the Bleeding Kansas era. Nicknamed "The Little Apple" as a play on New York City's " Big Apple", Manhattan is the home of Kansas State University and has a distinct college town atmosphere. History Native American settlement Before settlement by European-Americans in the 1850s, the land around Manhattan was home to Native American tribes. From 1780 to 1830, it was home to the Kaw people, also known as the Kansa. The Kaw settlement was called Blue Earth Village (Manyinkatuhuudje), named after the river which the tribe had named the Great Blue Earth River, today known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kestrel
The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around over open country and swoop down on ground prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects, while other falcons are more adapted for active hunting during flight. Kestrels are notable for usually having mostly brown in their plumage. Description Most species termed kestrels appear to form a distinct clade among the falcons, as suggested by comparison of mtDNA cytochrome ''b'' sequence data and morphology. This seems to have diverged from other ''Falco'' around the Miocene–Pliocene boundary (Messinian to Zanclean, or about 7–3.5 mya). The most basal "true" kestrels are three species from Africa and its surroundings which lack a malar stripe, and in one case have—like other falco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bluebird
The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. Bluebirds have blue, or blue and rose beige, plumage. Female birds are less brightly colored than males, although color patterns are similar and there is no noticeable difference in size. Taxonomy and species The genus ''Sialia'' was introduced by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1827 with the eastern bluebird (''Sialia sialis'') as the type species. A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial sequences published in 2005 found that ''Sialia'', '' Myadestes'' (solitaires) and '' Neocossyphus'' (African ant-thrushes) formed a basal clade in the family Turdidae. Within ''Sialia'' the mountain bluebird was sister to the eastern bluebird. The genus contains three species: Behavior Bluebirds are territorial and pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts. The osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica, although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant. As its other common names suggest, the osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. As a result of these unique characteristics, it has been given its own taxonomic genus, ''Pandion'', and family, Pandionidae. Taxonomy The osprey was described by Carl Linnaeus under the name ''Falco haliaeetus'' in hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world. There are completely independent Audubon Societies in the United States, which were founded several years earlier such as the Massachusetts Audubon Society and Connecticut Audubon Society. The society has nearly 500 local chapters, each of which is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization voluntarily affiliated with the National Audubon Society. They often organize birdwatching field trips and conservation-related activities. It also coordinates the Christmas Bird Count held each December in the U.S., a model of citizen science, in partnership with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the Great Backyard Bird Count each February. Together with Cornell, Audubon created eBird, an online database for bird obs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the Program is administered by the National Audubon Society. Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. History In 1985, following a specific request from the European Economic Community, Birdlife International d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Treatment
Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, including being safely returned to the environment. Water treatment removes contaminants and undesirable components, or reduces their concentration so that the water becomes fit for its desired end-use. This treatment is crucial to human health and allows humans to benefit from both drinking and irrigation use. Water is the most crucial compound for life on Earth, and having drinkable water is a key worldwide concern for the twenty-first century. All living things require clean, uncontaminated water as a basic requirement. Water covers more than 71 percent of the earth’s surface, but only around 1% of it is drinkable according to international standards due to various contaminations . Waste water discharge from industries, agricultural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Power Plant
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many power stations contain one or more Electric generator, generators, a rotating machine that converts mechanical power into three-phase electric power. The relative motion between a magnetic field and a Electrical conductor, conductor creates an electric current. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity. Low-carbon power sources include nuclear power, and an increasing use of renewable energy, renewables such as solar power, solar, wind power, wind, geothermal power, geothermal, and hydroelectricity, hydroelectric. History In early 1871 Belgian inventor Zénobe Gramme invented ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Department
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression services. Fire departments are most commonly a public sector organization that operate within a municipality, county, state, nation, or special district. Private and specialist firefighting organizations also exist, such as those for aircraft rescue and firefighting. A fire department contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by firefighters, who may be professional, volunteers, conscripts, or on-call. Combination fire departments employ a mix of professional and volunteer firefighters. Organization Fire departments are organized in a system of administration, services, training, and operations; for example: * Administration is responsible for supervision, budgets, policy, and human resources. * Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Corps (United States Army)
The Chemical Corps is the branch of the United States Army tasked with defending against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. The Chemical Warfare Service was established on 28 June 1918, combining activities that until then had been dispersed among five separate agencies of the United States federal government. It was made a permanent branch of the Regular Army by the National Defense Act of 1920. In 1945, it was redesignated the Chemical Corps. History Origins Discussion of the topic dates back to the American Civil War. A letter to the War Department dated 5 April 1862 from New York City resident John Doughty proposed the use of chlorine shells to drive the Confederate Army from its positions. Doughty included a detailed drawing of the shell with his letter. It is unknown how the military reacted to Doughty's proposal but the letter was unnoticed in a pile of old official documents until modern times. Another American, Forrest Shepherd, also prop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, massa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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