Before 1941 the United States had no intelligence service worthy of the name. While each military department had its own parochial tactical intelligence apparatus and the State Department maintained a haphazard collection of 'country files' there was no American equivalent to the 400-year-old British espionage establishment or the German Abwehr. No one in Washington was charged with putting the jigsaw puzzle of fact, rumor, and foreign innuendo together to see what pictures might develop or what portions might be missing. Even those matters of vital interest to policy makers remained uncoordinated, unevaluated, uninterrupted, and frequently in the wrong hands. That was in 1941. Four years later the scene was forever altered. The organization which achieved this dramatic turnabout was the Office of Strategic Services, better known by its initials: OSS. Headed by William J. Donovan, a World War 1 hero, Republican politician, and millionaire lawyer, the OSS infiltrated agents into every country of occupied Europe and raised guerillas armies in most. This book examines the small but representative role played by Marines assigned to this country's first central intelligence agency. In so doing, it provides the first serious attempt to chronicle a totally forgotten chapter of Marine Corps history.

Plant diseases play an important role on our daily lives. Most of plant diseases are visible and are caused by biotic and/or abiotic factors. Symptoms are usually the results of a morphological change, alteration or damage to plant tissue and/or cells due to an interference of the plant’s metabolism. All basic structures of vascular plants are subject to attack by pathogens. The failure in accurate disease diagnosis and management may lead to huge losses in plant production and related commodities, which causes nutritional food scarcity. Typically, the appearance of a biotic symptom will indicate the relatively late stage of an infection and/or colonization of a pathogen. Expert detection, accurate diagnosis, and timely management play a significant role in keeping plants free from pathogens. In this book expert scholars share their research knowledge and key literature which are vital toward the diagnosis of plant diseases across the globe, addressing traditional plant pathology techniques, as well as advanced molecular diagnostic approach.

The book is a compilation of research work carried out on plant viruses during past 100 years in India. Plant viruses are important constraints in Indian agriculture. Tropical and sub-tropical environments and intensive crop cultivation practices ideally favours perpetuation of numerous plant viruses and their vectors in India, which often cause wide spread crop losses. Of all the plant pathogens, studies of plant viruses have received a special attention as they are difficult to manage. A large body of literature has been published on the plant virus research from India during past 100 years; however the information is so far not available in one place. This book provides comprehensive information on the biology, molecular biology, epidemics, crop losses, diagnosis and management of viruses and viroids occurring in India. Description of properties of the viruses are provided in the chapters comprising of different genera such as Allexivirus, Begomovirus, Babuvirus, Badnavirus, Carlavirus, Carmovirus, Cucumovirus, Closterovirus, Ilavirus, Mandrivirus, Potyvirus, Tospovirus, Tungrovirus and Sobemovirus. Virus-vector research related to aphid, thrips and whitefly is discussed. The work on the management aspects of plant viral diseases has been described with reference to the conventional, antiviral and transgenic approaches. Further, the quarantine mechanism developed in India for the exclusion of viruses and vectors has also been included. The book also provides useful information about the capacity building on the research and education on Plant Virology in India. Overall, the book covers a wide range of accounts of research findings and innovations in Plant Virology in India during past 100 years. The book will be a resourceful reference to the students, scientists, agricultural professionals and policy makers.