ENVIRONMENT AND BIOLOGY: THE VISION OF SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

The environment is all that envelopes the earth, the things around us. What we see, feel, breathe, eat constitutes the environment. The trees, the air, the food, the rivers, the roads, the greenery, the desserts, the deforested patches of ground, all of them come within what we call environment.  It is considered that earth is the only planet in the universe having required environment for the existence. Without environment we can’t guess our life. So, the study of biology is become the most important part of our life because it helps us to save endangered species, preserve ecosystem , cure diseases and save our planet. The environment supports our lives and the lives of the other species. And it is a complete cycle that enables living possible on the earth. The natural phenomena surround the survival of species, there’s a need for understanding the environment we are all relying on. The food chain, the process of photosynthesis, etc are the key processes behind the survival of plants and similarly, plants are the reasons behind our survival. As human beings are considered as the most intelligent creature made by the nature on the earth, they have lots of eagerness to know things in the universe which leads them towards the technological advancement. Then these remarkable growth of technological  progress and advancement  has also the  negative impact on the ecological state of our planet. It is  the human species that is reliable, responsible for causing the major pollution, contamination, and harm to the environment. The exploitative ways of using the resources have caused a depletion in the availability of the resources-the absolute example of the same is existing and going to be the major water crisis. 

The smoke from factories, vehicles, automobiles, etc become the major reason behind air pollution. Similarly, ailments like noise pollution, water pollution, global warming, ozone depletion, water spills, etc have become very crucial now. Day by day many natural resources and fossils, fuels , wood products, animals and plants are getting reduced. Then it’s our responsibility to  reduce the use of these resources and save for the future generation.

Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations. Environmental sustainability involves making decisions and taking action that are in the interests of protecting the natural world, with particular emphasis on preserving the capability of the environment to support human life. Sustainable development is the need of the present time not only for the survival of mankind but also for its future protection. Unlike the other great revolutions in human history the Green Revolution and the Industrial Revolution the ‘sustainable revolution’ will have to take place rapidly, consciously and on many different levels and in many different spheres, simulta­neously. According to  the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency, any energy we conserve will conserve these non-renewable natural resources, which include oil, coal and natural gas. It is the responsibility of each and every individual living on the earth worldwide. Everyone should come forth and join the campaign for the environment safety.   Because  environment also affects us physically ,mentally and even spiritually. As we know that there are various cycles which happen regularly between environment and living things to maintain the nature’s balance. However, by any means if such cycles gets disturbed which ultimately affects the human lives. As we know that our environment helps to grow, develop and flourish on the earth for thousands of years. As day is passing some natural  resources are getting less available in the environment then it becomes the matter of serious debate .We can improve these resources by growing  awareness that doing so can bring economic and employment benefits as well as environment improvement. The Indian Government has also stated its Sustainable Development program that provide opportunities for change.

As a civil engineer, we can help plan dams and levees to regulate water flow through the area. We even coordinate the placement and the design of landfills and quarries to minimize environmental impact on surrounding homes and businesses. Transportation civil engineers help us all move around our communities and our country. Recycling helps the environment because it saves space in landfill sites, and it can reduce pollution substantially, along with innumerable other benefits. We also know that recycling saves energy and raw materials.

In such busy, crowded and advanced life we must take care of such types of small bad habits on daily basis. It is true that only a small effort by the end of everyone can bring a major positive change towards our declining environment. We should not use the use the natural resources in wrong ways for just our selfishness and fulfil our destructive wishes. We should grow and develop science and technologies for the betterment of our lives but always be sure that it would not ruin our environment in future in anyways. We should be sure that new technologies would never disturb the ecological balance.

MATLAB code to determine the type of flow for different cross section

• Firstly, the  code is asking  the user to give whether the cross-section of the channel is rectangular, triangular or trapezoidal. You need to give the instruction as defined in the code, and asking for the requirements inputs.

%asking for section information

section = input('Enter Tr for trapezoidal T for triangle and R for rectangle:','s');

discharge = input('Enter the discharge of water:');

n= input('Enter the value of coefficient of mannings:');

if section=='Tr'

    %following are the required data for computation of the flow for

    %trapezoidal section

    m=input('Enter the slope of trapezoidal section:');

    b=input("Enter the bed width of the trapezoidal section:");

    s=input('Enter the slope of the bed:');

    y=input('Enter the depth of flow:');

    tr(m,s,b,y,discharge,n)

elseif section=="T"

    %following are the required data for computation of the flow for

    %triangular section

    m=input("Enter the slope of the triangular section:");

    s=input("Enter the slope of the bed: ");

    flow_depth=input('Enter the depth of flow:');

    t(m,s,flow_depth,discharge,n)

elseif section=="R"

    %following are the required data for computation of the flow for the

    %rectangular section

    b=input('Enter the breadth of the channel:');

    y=input('Enter the depth of the flow:');

    s=input('Enter the slope of the bed:');

    %distance_at_x=input('Enter the distance at which you want the depth of flow')

    %rkm(n,discharge,b,y,s)

    r(b,s,y,discharge,n)

end

• The calculation of normal depth , critical depth for rectangular channel.
• Then calling the function spcase and np for comparison.

                                                                 

%calculation for rectangular section

function rectangle = r(b,s,y,discharge,n)

    area=b*y;

    wetted_perimeter = b+2*y;

    hydraulic_radius = area/wetted_perimeter;

    discharge_permeter = discharge/b;

    critical_depth = ((discharge_permeter)^2/9.81)^(1/3)

    if s <0

        spcase(s,critical_depth,y)

    elseif s==0

        spcase(s,critical_depth,y)

    elseif s>0   

        p = round((discharge*n/(b*sqrt(s)))^3,9);

        np(p,b,s,y,critical_depth)

    end

        %Vineet Kumar

        %IIT Jammu

        %Civil Department

    function normal_depth = np(p,b,s,y,critical_depth)

         normal_depth = roots([b*b 0 0 -4*p -4*b*p -p*b*b]);

         integer_normal_depth = normal_depth(imag(normal_depth)==0)

         z=length(integer_normal_depth)

         for i=1:z

             if integer_normal_depth(i) > 0

                 real_normal_depth = integer_normal_depth(i)

             end

         end 

        cm(real_normal_depth,y,critical_depth)

    end

end

• The calculation of normal depth , critical depth for trapezoidal channel.
• Then calling the function spcase and np for comparison.

%calculation for trapezoidal section

function trapezoidal = tr(m,s,b,y,discharge,n)

    area = b*y+m*y*y;

    wetted_perimeter = b+2*y*sqrt(m*m+1);

    hydraulic_radius = area/wetted_perimeter;

    velocity_of_flow = discharge/area;

    %here e is assigned as slope divided by breadth to make the equation of

    %equation for critical depth simpler

    e = m/b;

    % here h is nothing but the velocity head

    h = (velocity_of_flow)^2/(2*9.81);

    %calculating critical depth

    real_critical_depth = roots([e 1-4*h*e -2*h]);

    %real_critical_depth = depth(img(depth)==0)

    %eliminating the imaginary roots and the negative roots because depth

    %can't be negative or imaginary

    z = length(real_critical_depth);

    for i = 1:z

        if real_critical_depth(i) > 0

            critical_depth = real_critical_depth(i)

        end

    end

    np(discharge,n,s,b,m,critical_depth)

    function nr_depth = np(discharge,n,s,b,m,critical_depth)

        p = (discharge*n/sqrt(s))^3;

        c=sqrt(m*m+1);

        %finding the roots for the normal depth

        normal_depth = roots([m^5 5*b*m^4 10*(b^2)*(m^3) 10*(b^3)*(m^2) 5*m*b^4 b^5 0 0 -4*p*c^2 -4*c*b*p -p*b^2]);

        integer_roots = normal_depth(imag(normal_depth)==0);

        z = length(integer_roots);

        for i = 1:z

            if integer_roots(i)>0

                real_normal_depth = integer_roots(i)

            end

        end

        cm(real_normal_depth,y,critical_depth)

    end

end

• The calculation of normal depth , critical depth for triangular channel.
• Then calling the function spcase and np for comparison.

%calculation for triangular section

function triangular = t(m,s,flow_depth,discharge,n)

    y=flow_depth;

    area = m*y*y;

    wetted_perimeter = 2*y*sqrt(m*m+1);

    hydraulic_radius = area/wetted_perimeter;

    critical_depth = ((2*discharge^2)/(9.81*m^2))^(1/5)

    p =(discharge*n/sqrt(s))^3;

    %calculating normal depth

    real_normal_depth = (4*p*(m*m+1)/m^5)^(1/8)

    if s > 0

        cm(real_normal_depth,y,critical_depth)    

    elseif s < 0

        spcase(s,critical_depth,y)

    elseif s==0

        spcase(s,critical_depth,y)

    end

end

• Comparison function is defined for comparing actual depth, normal depth and critical depth.
• With the help of comparison, it will determine whether the flow is M1 ,M2, M3, S1,S2,S3,C1,C3,H2,H3,A2 and A3.

%comparing the flow depth, normal depth and the critical depth to determine

%the type of flow

function comparison = cm(real_normal_depth,y,critical_depth)

    if real_normal_depth > critical_depth

        disp('The flow is mild')

        if real_normal_depth > y > critical_depth

            disp('M2')

        elseif real_normal_depth < y

            disp('M1')

        elseif y < critical_depth

            disp('M3')

        end

    elseif critical_depth > real_normal_depth

        disp('The flow is steep')

        if y > critical_depth

            disp('S1')

        elseif critical_depth > y > real_normal_depth

            disp('S2')

        elseif real_normal_depth > y

            disp('S3')

        end

    elseif real_normal_depth == critical_depth

        disp('The flow is critical')

        if y > critical_depth

            disp('C1')

        elseif y < critical_depth

            disp('C3')

        end

    end

end

function h_and_adv = spcase(s,critical_depth,y)

    if s==0

        disp('The flow is horizontal')

        if y > critical_depth

            disp('H2')

        elseif y < critical_depth

            disp('H3')

        end

    elseif s < 0

        disp('The flow is adverse')

        if y > critical_depth

            disp('A2')

        elseif y < critical_depth

            disp('A3')

        end

    end

end