eChapters

This chapter introduces the readers about volcanoes and associated features and hazards. Volcanic disasters are like any other geohazards in causing dangerous impacts. However, volcanic explosions are preceded by many surficial expressions that can be detected through satellite imageries, thermal sensors, change in magnetic and gravity anomalies, disappearances of vegetation, sudden appearances of anomalous water vapor, thermal springs and abnormal behavior of animals. Hence, unlike other geohazards, volcanic hazards could be forecast with fairly accurate time limits that may allow evacuation and precautionary safety measures. While avoidance is the best mitigation measure, proper land use planning, provision of scientifically designed damming and diversion methods could save lives and infrastructure from lava flows. Though, atmospheric contamination by volcanic gases, ash cloud and pyroclastic materials could not be thwarted and controlled and thus they could cause havoc.

INTRODUCTION

The term “Volcano” is derived from the name of Roman mythical God of fire “Vulcan”. A volcano is an opening of different shapes, through which, molten rock and gas get ejected either violently or simply flow over earth’s surface. The molten rock and gaseous materials are drawn from deep inside of crust or mantle of the Earth. Repeated ejection of molten materials through vent, fissures or plate margins forms volcanic mountains on earth’s continental or submarine regions.

Volcanism is a threat not only to the lives and infrastructure, but it also drastically alters landscape, impacts atmospheric quality and renders forests, cities and villages and cultivation lands useless. In addition, volcanic eruptions are capable of causing changes in global atmospheric cycles. For example, the eruptions of El Chicho’n in Mexico in 1982, Laki volcano in Iceland and Asama Volcano in Japan in the year 1783 and Krakatau volcano of Japan in the year 1883 have all impacted global climate and atmorpheric dynamics.

Secondary standard solution

Solution of chemicals which lack one (or) all the properties for a primary standard

A solution standardised by titrating a primary standard

Less accurate than a primary standard

Volumetric Analysis

Measurement of volume of reagents required for the completion of reactions

Also called titrimetry – most widely used techniques of chemical analysis

Rapid, accurate, convenient and inexpensive

Volumetric analysis, also known as titrimetric analysis, is an analytical method of estimating the concentration of a known solute (analyte) in a solution by measuring the volume of a second known solution of known concentration (standard solution), that reacts completely with the known solute of unknown concentration. The prerequisite of titration is that the two different analytes, present in solution form, must involve in a fast chemical reaction. The standard solution is more commonly known as ‘titrant’ and the solution whose concentration needs to be determined is frequently called ‘titrand’.

Titration, also known as titrimetry, is a common laboratory method of quantitative chemical analysis that is used to determine the unknown concentration of an identified analyte.  Since volume measurements play a key role in titration, it is also known as volumetric analysis. A reagent, called the titrant or titrator is prepared as a standard solution. A known concentration and volume of titrant reacts with a solution of analyte or titrand  to determine concentration. The volume of titrant reacted is called titre. Volumetric analysis originated in late 18^th-century in France.

Key Points

• Vomiting is a common sign of various conditions, including irritants and toxins, kidney or liver failure, pancreatitis, neurological disorders, and digestive issues. Common in dogs and cats.

• Can be fatal in horses with acute stomach dilatation.

• Ruminants (cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats) vomit by regurgitating ruminal material through their mouths.

Introduction

Vomiting is the violent ejection of stomach and, on occasion, proximal small intestine contents through the mouth caused by fierce contractions of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. It is the most prevalent protective disruption in the gastrointestinal system. Vomiting has three distinct phases: nausea, retching, and vomiting. A sense of nausea may or may not cause vomiting. Nausea is scientifically defined as sadness, salivation, lip-licking, and increased swallowing motions in animals. Retching is caused by a series of spasmodic respiratory movements involving the closed glottis. Vomiting is characterized by repeated thoracic invaginations of the abdominal esophagus and cardia. Projectile vomiting often occurs when an animal begins to vomit without going through three stages.

The analysis of land use patterns has long been one of geography’s basic concerns. At first, it might appear as if agricultural land use is little affected by relative location, once the factor of a suitable market has been acknowledged. Indeed, the farmer does adapt his land use to site conditions, climate, land forms, and soils.

However, the effects of the market situation cannot be disposed of as easily as all that. Johann Heinrich Von Thunen (17831850), a German economist and estate owner of the early 19th century, developed a theory of agricultural location that is still worth considering.

This model is based on an econometric analysis of his estates in Mecklenburg, near Rostock in Germany. Most of the data used in explaining his theory were obtained by him through practical experience. He attempted to construct a theoretical model of land use pattern, giving a particular arrangement of towns and villages in a situation experienced in Mecklenburg.

The main aim of Von Thunen’s analysis was to show how and why agricultural land use varies with the distance from a market.

While circulation is a measure of tendency of fluid rotation, vorticity is the same property of fluid for an infinitely small area.

Vulnerability of Soils

Soil vulnerability, Soil degradation, soil vulnerability index

Water and wind erosion, depletion of soil organic matter, loss of plant nutrients, salinity, alkalinity, acidity, pollution and contamination, compaction, sealing, crusting, water-logging, aridity, lowering of water table, over grazing, deforestation, landslide, loss and change in soil biodiversity, Abandoned mines etc.

Soil vulnerability, Soil Degradation, Soil Vulnerability Index

The terms vulnerable and vulnerability are now bites of every one and used for everything. Vulnerable means to the possibility of attack or harm by any mean. Human beings are vulnerable to Covid-19, computers are vulnerable to virus, softwares are vulnerable to hackers and attackers to control system, environment is vulnerable to pollution. Vulnerabilities refer to the lack of ability to resist the effects of the aggressive environment. Soils are vulnerable to numerous threats like water and wind erosion, depletion of soil organic matter, loss of plant nutrients, salinity, alkalinity, acidity, pollution and contamination, compaction, sealing, crusting, water-logging, aridity, lowering of water table, over grazing, deforestation, landslide, loss and change in soil biodiversity etc. However, this book will describe some of the most pertinent vulnerabilities for soils.

Vultures are obligate and highly efficient scavengers. They are keystone species providing important ecosystem services, but their adaptations to save energy, gorge themselves up to one third their body weight at a time, survive easily without food for up to a fortnight, conserve energy by using soaring and gliding flight, are just some of the unique and important characteristics of these magnificent birds. A highly efficient digestive system helps in extracting nutrients from otherwise non-nutrient sources like hide, tendons, and even bones. Vultures have been instrumental in keeping India clean and safe from disease outbreaks. A bird which is unaffected by multiple disease-causing micro-organisms helps to rid the environment from disease pandemics and epidemics. However, since the mid 1990ss these robust birds with a life span of 40-60 years, have declined drastically, from tens of millions to a few thousand currently, a decline of around 99%. For the formerly most abundant of these vultures, the white-rumped vulture, declines already happened by 99.9% in just 15 years! These declines led to multiple problems including increases in feral dog populations, economic and social losses and most importantly, 5,00,000 human deathsin five years,as a direct cause of the decline of vultures. The main cause of the vulture declines has been scientifically proven to be due to the use of veterinary diclofenac in cattle, their major source offood. Although veterinary diclofenac was banned since 2006, the drug has remained in the cattle carcasses at lower levels and new vulture toxic drugs have been discovered.

Wall pressure: The inward pressure exerted by the cell wall against expanding protoplast; equal but opposite to turgor pressure.

Warburg effect: Warburg effect states that the competition between CO₂ and O₂ for enzyme RuBisCO with CO₂ promoting photosynthesis and inhibiting glycolate formation and inhibiting photorespiration and O₂ promoting glycolate formation and inhibiting photosynthesis.

Water deficit: Water available to the plant is less than optimum requirement.

Water potential (ψ_w): Water potential is defined as free energy status of water in a system compared to the free energy status of pure water. Here system refers to water in plant cell or soil and pure water refers to the water which does not have any solute in it. Water potential is measured in terms of bars, Pascals or Megapascals and denoted by ψ_w.

Wafer: A thin crisp cake, candy, cracker or chips is known as wafer.

Waffle: A crisp cake of batter baked in a waffle iron is called waffle

Warner-Bartzler Shear: It is one of the oldest but commonly used devices used to measure the tenderness of meat. It is used to test the quality in the cooked meat (Plate 648).

Wastage: Wastage is a term that cannot be precisely defined by even moral value / judgment and defined on the context / situation on which it is used.

Waste water: Water that has been used in a manufacturing process and goes waste is called waste water.

Water: Water (H2 O) is a clear transparent, colourless, odourless and tasteless liquid; neutral in reaction; boils at 100oC, freezes at 0oC and has maximum density (1 g/cm3) at 4oC. It exists as snow, ponds, lake, rivers, seas, oceans etc., also occur as rain and is there in the form of moisture in atmosphere. Pure water is bad conductor of heat and electricity. Water is an essential part of the body structure as a carrier of nutrients and regulator of a number of body functions. Fruit and vegetables contain > 80% water and sometime upto 95% water e.g. cucumber, lettuce, marrow, lettuce, melon. The starchy tubers and seeds, for example yam, cassava and cork, contain less water, but even > 50%. So water content must be optimum at the harvesting time. The human body comprises of about 65 % water, while that of fruits and vegetables 80-90% water.

Wilcoxon Matched-pairs Test: The Wilcoxon Matched-pairs Test can be used if the research situations where two-related samples, i.e. case of matched pairs such as a study where husband and wife, or the output of two similar machines or some subjects are studied in context of before-after experiment, the magnitude of difference between matched values in both the directions are to be determined.

Waldhemia glabra (Decne.) Regel. (Asteraceae): Eng.- Smooth Ground Daisy [W] A tufted mat forming, aromatic high altitude plant of drier areas of Kashmir Himalaya at 4000-5000 m altitudes. Leaves wedge shaped and bluntly 3-5 lobed, occur in rosettes. Flower heads solitary on stems, pink to purple ray florets, disc florets yellow. Whole plant used for rheumatism.

Wage drift : The difference between basic pay and total earnings. Wage drift consists of things such as overtime payments, bonuses, profit share and performance-related pay. It usually increases during periods of strong growth and declines during an economic downturn.

Wages : The price of labour. In theory, wages ought to change so that the sopply and demand in the labour market are always in equilibrium. In practice, wages are often sticky, especially in a downward direction when demand for labour falls, wages do not fall. In this situation, the fall in demand results in higher involuntary unemployment. Trade unions may use collective bargaining to keep wages above the market-clearing rate. Furthermore, many governments impose a minimum wage that employers must pay.

Wealth effect : As people get wealthier, they consume more. This wealth effect has important consequences for monetary policy. When there is an interest rate increase, future income from assets such as equities must be discounted at a higher rate than before. As a result their owners feel poorer and spend less. A cut in interest rates has the opposite effect. Economists disagree on the wealth elasticity of consumption how much consumer spending would rise if wealth increased by, say, 1%. Different consumers may have different wealth elasticity. If most of the increase in wealth goes to poorer people this may have a different wealth effect than if most of it went to people who are already wealthy. The source of the wealth increase may also matter. If share prices rise or interest rates fall, consumers may be slow to spend out of their increased wealth if they think the increase may be temporary. However, if they think a sharp rise in share prices is permanent and the stockmarket then tumbles, the result may be that consumption falls by enough to cause a recession. The wealth effect of rising house prices is particularly uncertain.

1. Introduction

Persian walnut is of great importance across worldwide where nuts are harvested from wild stands, backyard gardens and rarely from commercial orchards that vary considerably in their size due to degree of management. The walnut is an old tree cultivated before the Greek age and appreciated for centuries for its fruits, wood and other parts utilized in several ways. Before the discovery of the phenomena of allelopathy, someone considered the walnut an un-healthful tree, since peasants used to wake up with migraine or fever after they had slept under a walnut tree. Some others considered the walnut a cursed tree, and in fact in Italy an old walnut tree growing in Benevento, has long been considered the place where the witches used to dance during the night of Saint John and, therefore, that tree was named “Tree of the Witches” (Avanzato, 2010).

Nuts are collected for home consumption, sale at local roadside stands and markets and for shipping to cities. Walnut trees are further utilized for their high quality timber to make a wide array of products. The leaves, bark and other plant parts are used for medicinal remedies and trees are grown and maintained for soil conservation purposes (Mamadjanov, 2006b). A diverse mix of seedlings, local selections, and advanced cultivars are grown for nut production, many with unknown origins, including some of which are the direct result of selection from the wild.

The English walnut (Juglans regia) is a native of Western and Central Asia. The nut was the food of the royalty and was introduced by the Greeks in Rome, where it became Juglans, a name derived from Jovis and glans, meaning Jupiter’s Acorn or the ‘Nut of the Gods’. The English walnut tree, also known as the Common, Persian or Royal walnut tree, is an ancient tree with many uses, most notably for its use as timber and for the walnut fruit. The common walnut tree has been used as a food, beauty aid, medicine and natural health supplement. In China the tree is used horticulturally in classical garden design.

• Monoecious, temperate nut fruit.
• Most valuable exchange earning nut crop.
• The USA is the leading producer of walnut
• Female are born terminally and male flowers laterally
• Paradoxes is a rootstock derived from Juglans hindsii × Juglans nigra.
• Reduction of walnut hull dehiscence Ethephon @ 2000 ppm.
• The blank nut is due to hot summers with low humidity.
• Trees deciduous 10-40 meter tall
• The temperature of 29-32°C near harvesting results in the wall filled kernels
• Sensitive to low temperature during spring and high temperature during summer.
• The chilling requirement is about 200-800hrs.
• Modified central leader system is ideal for training.
• Walnuts have high antioxidant content (Vitamin and fiber).

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) is commonly known as ‘Akhrot’ in India. Internationally, walnut is known as English walnut or Persian walnut. It is an important nut grown in temperate regions of the world. It is cultivated for nut and wood in the northern hemisphere (Europe, Asia, and North America) and the Southern hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America). Walnut kernel is rich source of proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and polyphenols. Inclusion of walnuts in human diet has positive effect on heart, skin and circulatory system. Wood of walnut is used for making quality furniture, interior joinery constructions,music instruments, carving, sport items, gun stocks and fore-end, and producing highly figured veneers, usually from burrs, which are used for cabinet-making and decorative panels

Genus : Juglans 
Species : regia L.
Family : Juglandaceae
Chromosome No. : 2n=2x=32

Walnut (Juglans regia L.) among the nut crops is regarded to be a rich source of proteins, fats and minerals and is said to be a concentrated source of energy. It is on this account that wild walnuts have been utilized as food for human and animals since pre-historic times. It contains good amount of different vitamins of B group and is richest in vitamin B6 compared to almond, pecan, filbert, chestnut and Brazil nut. After the last ice age, records indicate that walnut spread from Asia Minor to other parts of the world, while some opinion it to be even older than man as revealed by fossil studies.