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Automated flash-flood phone alert system developed
A part of Texas is called Flash Flood Alley because of the frequency and ferocity of flash floods; it stretches from San Antonio through Austin and to Dallas, and includes the Fort Hood military base; researchers develop a system which uses cell phones to give real-time text alerts of flash floods in the area
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DRC wins DHS contract to help protect federal, state, and local agencies
On Tuesday Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC) announced that it had won a new blanket purchase agreement with the General Services Administration and DHS to provide a range of support services to federal, state, and local government agencies
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New York's older brick buildings vulnerable
To get a better idea of just how much damage even a moderate earthquake would cause to unreinforced masonry buildings, earthquae-engineering researchers are reconstructing brick walls like those in New York City buildings that are approximately 100 years old
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DRC wins DHS contract to help protect federal, state, and local agencies
On Tuesday Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC) announced that it had won a new blanket purchase agreement with the General Services Administration and DHS to provide a range of support services to federal, state, and local government agencies
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Virginia quake highlights overlooked danger: decrepit dams
Tuesday’s Virginia earthquake raised fears that a Fukushima scenario would unfold somewhere on the East Coast, but experts say that earthquake pose a much greater threat: breaching decrepit dams; of the 85,000 dams in the United States, 4,000 are seriously unsafe or deficient — and of those, 1,800 are located in areas where a breach would cause grave damage to life and property
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Water mist puts out fires at low pressure
A new water mist system allows for fires to be extinguished from a distance of eight meters; the system’s special nozzles generate a fine mist of tiny water droplets; the water and the propellant nitrogen are non-hazardous, environmentally friendly, and leave no residues
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Redirecting menacing asteroids
Sometime between 2029 and 2036, the asteroid Apophis will come uncomfortably close to Earth; if the asteroid, which weighs forty-six million tons, were to strike Earth, it would cause damage for thousands of miles around the epicenter; scientists propose ways to nudge the menacing asteroid off its current course
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Sector Report for Monday, 22 August 2011: Infrastructure protection
This report contains the following stories.
Plus 1 additional story.
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Cyber experts dispute McAfee's Shady RAT report
Earlier this month, cybersecurity experts discovered a five-year operation that infiltrated U.S. government and UN computer networks; China is believed to be the culprit behind the systematic attacks, dubbed “Operation Shady RAT,” which also hit major defense contractors and private businesses; many within the cybersecurity community are disputing the significance of the finding
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USSI showcases port security system
To help secure U.S. ports and waterways which provide a vital link to the global supply chain, US Seismic Systems Inc. (USSI) has developed an underwater fiber-optic sonar system that detects small craft entering protected areas
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Making rail travel more reliable
U.K. researchers are collaborating with industry to develop novel optical sensors that detect when overhead power lines are likely to fail; the costly disruption to rail travel caused by the breakdown of overhead power lines could thus become a thing of the past
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DHS warns copper thefts on the rise
DHS officials warn that copper thefts from critical infrastructure and key resource sectors in the United States are on the rise; in March, a Port of Houston security guard was arrested for giving his friends and families access to the port, where they allegedly stole more than 22,000 pounds of copper
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Researchers develop controversial earthquake detection network
Researchers at a Silicon Valley company are hard at work developing an experimental network of electromagnetic sensors that could predict large earthquakes as much as two weeks in advance; the theory behind the research is disputed, but Tom Bleier, the inventor and chief engineer behind project QuakeFinder, hopes to prove seismologists wrong
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Bill calls for all utility plant worker background checks
Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) will introduce new legislation that would require all major utility plants to run background checks on its employees; the bill would require FBI background checks on all employees of all major utility plants, strengthening the current requirement which mandates such checks only at nuclear power plants
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New task force helps protect Port of Virginia
A new border security task force has been launched to help secure the Port of Virginia; the task force is comprised of ten officers and agents from a total of ten local, state, and federal agencies that will be responsible for securing the Port of Virginia against a variety of criminal acts including trade fraud, cargo theft, and the illegal smuggling of drugs, persons, currency, and weapons
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