Temperature records were smashed yet again last year, the third year in a row, possibly a signal of more sweltering days to come.

A special type of paint which cools by reflecting a spectrum of sunlight might offer some respite for those indoors.

The paint, developed by three researchers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), contains tiny reflective particles that bounce off near-infrared light – one of three most common types of rays in sunlight besides ultraviolet rays and visible rays – which contributes to the heat.

When using that mix, the temperature of painted surfaces is lowered, said one of the researchers, Dr Lim Sheau Hooi, who is senior manager at NP’s Environmental and Water Technology Centre of Innovation.

Laboratory tests show the paint reduced interior temperature by at least 5 deg C.

Using a simulation program, the paint was also found to reduce the energy usage of a 600 sq m office space by 15 per cent over one year, added Dr Lim.

Now it is set to become the first Singapore-developed “cool paint” – named X Cool – to hit the market this year.

Agreements have been struck with a local public hospital and an animal welfare organisation to coat part of their premises with the paint, and a test-bed at Jurong Island is expected to be launched by April.

The test-bed, which will run for between six months and a year, will study things like how the paint reduces indoor temperature and consequently the energy used to keep a place cool.

Local start-up Green Material Innovation (GMI), which is commercialising the paint, is in discussions with five organisations to sell the product in countries such as China and the Philippines.

Gashubin Engineering, a fuel cell manufacturer, which applied the paint on the walls of outdoor enclosures where it stores fuel cells, said the inner temperature of the units was down by 10 deg C.

(Fuel cells need to be kept within a certain temperature or they get damaged.)

“We’ll be running a few more tests and hope to be able to use X Cool paint on all our power units. It will mean a reduction in power consumption as well as costs,” said Dr S. Sundar Pethaiah, senior scientist at Gashubin Engineering.

Mr Thomas Ang, director of GMI, said traditional paints that provide cooling effects are usually flammable and contain toxic materials that could produce harmful fumes when on fire.

They also require a primer before they are painted on a surface, which takes more time and adds to labour costs.

The NP-developed paint is, in contrast, a fire retardant and is non-toxic, and does not require a primer before it is applied to concrete.

It has received Green Label certification.

It will, however, cost between 20 and 30 per cent more than normal paint, though the cost could drop as demand rises, said Mr Simon Tan, a director at GMI.

Such “cool paints” have also been developed by Nanyang Technological University, whose product has been tested at various sites, including housing estates.

Dr Lim said X Cool, which took two years to develop, is an important innovation for city states like Singapore.

“City areas are generally hotter than forested areas mainly because the heat from the sun is absorbed by concrete surfaces, like those on buildings, and other man-made structures like roads.

“Such anti-solar paint can improve comfort for many people and reduce energy consumption.”

samboh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 14, 2017.
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Eunoia Junior College (EJC) has a name some have dismissed as pretentious, but principal Wong Mei Heng says the school’s focus is on substance and character.

“We want to anchor students in values… We are not building elitism. We are building quality, and (this) quality is accessible to all,” she told The Straits Times on Thursday.

In addition to its academic curriculum, EJC, which welcomes its pioneer batch this year, offers four “flagship” programmes – the passion pursuit, life coaching, talent development and world readiness programmes to help students discover their purpose in life.

Said Mrs Wong, 57: “We always hear people say how (Singapore’s) students are excellent students. But when it comes to creativity, being innovative, being willing to step out of their comfort zone, we don’t usually see that happening.”

She hopes EJC’s flagship programmes will foster these attitudes, and a “nimbleness to adapt to what happens in the future”.

Eunoia is at a temporary site in Mount Sinai off Holland Road.

The new campus in Sin Ming will be ready in late 2019.

The school now has about 440 Joint Integrated Programme students from Catholic High School, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School.

Three were offered places via the Direct School Admission Exercise. On Feb 3, they will be joined by 210 students coming in through the O levels.

EJC’s academic curriculum features A-level subjects, and special programmes like the bicultural studies (Chinese), humanities scholarship and music elective programmes.

The world readiness programme aims to make students more culturally intelligent, through dinners and seminars with guest speakers such as migrant workers or international students.

The passion pursuit programme will get students to reflect on what excites them, and find ways to pursue their passions actively.

Highlights include an “Unconference Day” (a conference designed by students), a guest speaker series, and “Deep Dive Day” when students get to delve deeper into a topic through discussions and talks.

Said Ms Adrienne de Souza, 30, department head for project work and flagship programmes: “Everyone has passions, but a lot of people might not find their passion in life because they don’t search for it.”

EJC’s first few student batches will play a key role in shaping its culture.

To give them the chance to do so, vice-principal Boy Eng Seng, 40, said “the (staff) management team was careful not to over-plan”.

The uniform was designed by a student, and about 10 students are in the midst of composing the school song.

Students will also have the chance to co-create the school’s code of conduct and name CCAs.

Student Mickel Ng, 16, previously from Catholic High, said: “(EJC) is one of the few places where we don’t have seniors to lead us. It will give us the opportunity to construct a unique school identity.”

tohwenli@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 14, 2017.
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Women here are living longer but lagging behind men when it comes to adding extra healthy years to their lives.

In the decade between 2003 and 2013, men added 5.5 healthy years to their lives. Women, on the other hand, are living only 4.9 healthy years more.

According to the Global Burden of Disease 2015 published in The Lancet last year, women spend the last nine years of their lives in ill health, and men 7.5 years.

Some of the factors that create the years of ill health towards the end of life can be prevented, said Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Health. In an interview with The Straits Times, she said it is good that Singaporeans are living longer, but not if those added years are lived in pain and suffering.

In 2015, life expectancy for women here was 84.9 years and for men, 80.4 years, making people here among the longest-living in the world. But women spend 10.7 per cent of their lives in ill health, and men 9.4 per cent. In fact, men here top the world in terms of the number of healthy years they live, according to The Lancet report.

Dr Khor said: “It is really important to tell women, ‘Yes, you have got longer lives, but we want you to change your lifestyle to increase your years in good health’.”

She chairs the Women’s Health Committee, set up in 2012 to focus on problems faced by women to help them reduce the burden of ill health. Under its current three- year road map, which started in 2015, the committee is focusing on three big culprits: osteoporosis, diabetes and cancer.

Osteoporosis, a disease in which bones become so brittle that they break easily, is a major cause of poor quality of life for some women, said Dr Khor. Women experience a rapid loss of bone mass in the years following menopause, unless they work at retaining bone density.

She said: “I see women in their 50s in the community with knee guards, complaining about pain. It (osteoporosis) is part of ageing, but we can delay it.”

For diabetes, the focus of the committee is on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) – which affects one in five pregnant women here – since it puts both the mother and baby at risk of diabetes in future.

The committee wants such pregnant women to control the GDM and change their lifestyle after giving birth to prevent the diabetes from recurring. For women with obesity, a major risk factor for diabetes, it is getting them to eat better and exercise more.

With cancer, the aim is to encourage women to have screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers, which are preventable or very treatable. The committee is working with the Breast Cancer Foundation (BCF) to provide funding for lower-income women to get mammograms. BCF agreed to fund screening of 40,000 women over five years from end-2014.

Dr Khor said getting women to be healthier has spillover effects, because they have influence over three generations – their parents, spouses and children.

Preventing bone loss key to reducing fracture risk

Women face more than double the risk of getting fractures compared with men, largely due to osteoporosis, or major loss of bone mass.

It is one reason they spend 10.7 per cent of their lives in poor health, compared with 9.4 per cent for men.

The Women’s Health Committee headed by Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor hopes to change this.

Although half the fractures occur in the spine, doctors use hip fractures – which account for one-sixth of all fractures but are better recorded – as a proxy.

Between 2007 and 2009, 1,477 women and 634 men fractured their hips each year. These fractures often result in long periods of immobility, loss of muscle strength and bed sores.

But the bigger problem for women are fractures to their spine, said Dr Chionh Siok Bee, president of the Osteoporosis Society of Singapore.

In fact, half the fractures women suffer occur in the spine, resulting in backache and hunched backs caused by thinning bones that collapse the vertebrae.

Madam Tan See Moy, 67, who has been on medication for osteoporosis for the past three years, fell when getting off her bed last July and broke two of her vertebrae. She needed three months of rehabilitation. She suffered weeks of pain and now takes calcium and exercises regularly to try to preserve her bone mass.

Women start to lose bone mass from age 35, against 45 for men. They also do so at a faster rate – 0.75 per cent to 1 per cent a year compared with 0.5 per cent a year for men. To make matters worse, bone loss for women accelerates to 2 per cent to 3 per cent a year in the year prior to and the two years following menopause.

Dr Chionh, who is also a senior endocrinologist at the National University Hospital specialising in osteoporosis, said the biggest loss in bone mass during that menopausal period is in the spine.

Women also lose bone mass during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Dr Chionh said: “It didn’t matter so much in the past when most women did not live past the age of menopause, but it is quite unfair now.”

But the news is not all bleak.

Women, and men too, can prevent bone loss by ensuring they consume at least 1g of calcium, 400 IU of vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium, and do 30 minutes of weight-bearing exercise a day.

They should also avoid smoking and take no more than one standard alcoholic drink for women and two for men.

salma@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 14, 2017.
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Works to see if a train tunnel for the Cross Island Line can be built under Singapore’s largest nature reserve have been postponed again.

The investigation works to determine the soil and rock profile under the Central Catchment Nature Reserve were supposed to start last month, after an initial postponement from the third quarter of last year.

However, they have not commenced to date.

A check by The Straits Times last Thursday showed that the Sime Track and Terentang Trail – on which 10 boreholes were supposed to be drilled – were still open to the public.

There was also no sign of any works within the reserve.

In response to queries, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) would only say that work within the reserve is “expected to commence within these two months”.

The LTA did not provide reasons for the delay, but The Straits Times understands that preparatory work ahead of the soil investigation works is still ongoing.

But site investigation works for the alternative route have commenced and are expected to be completed at end-2018, the LTA said.

At the central reserve, other than the drilling of the boreholes – each about 10cm wide to extract soil samples – the works also involve geophysical surveys, which will see surveyors going off-trail into the forest to collect data using handheld equipment.

It is less intrusive than the drilling, but nature groups have aired concerns that surveyors may trample on the sensitive vegetation in the reserve.

The latest delay is the second one so far. The works were initially supposed to start in the third quarter of last year, but were pushed back due to extensive talks between the LTA and nature groups.

Discussions then had resulted in the authorities agreeing to put in place 10 extra measures to reduce any negative impact on plants and animals there, on top of an earlier nine.

These include mandating that contractors use enclosures to reduce engine noise and tanks to collect discharge, scheduling at least one rest day in between surveys, and engaging a tree expert to ensure trees are not damaged.

The LTA said it would continue to work closely with the appointed contractors, the National Parks Board (NParks) and key representatives from the nature groups during the works to ensure compliance with the mitigation measures.

The LTA has also engaged an environmental adviser to monitor the process and conduct audits of an environmental management and monitoring plan, which was developed to ensure proper implementation, management and compliance with the mitigation measures.

Green groups, such as the Nature Society (Singapore) and the Love Our MacRitchie Forest volunteer group, are pushing for the 50km Cross Island Line to go around instead of through the reserve, where rare animals, such as the critically endangered Sunda pangolin, can be found.

Biologist David Tan, from the Love Our MacRitchie Forest group, said: “In a sense, it’s good that LTA is taking things slowly rather than barrelling through at full speed.

“Mistakes are much more likely to occur when works are rushed, and we know from past incidents that the risk of environmental damage is not insignificant.”

Last year, for example, Mr Tan said there were at least two cases at MacRitchie where mitigation measures were either not implemented or had failed entirely, resulting in siltation and damage to two separate streams in the forest.

audreyt@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Jan 14, 2017.
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Warming seas caused Singapore’s corals to suffer the longest bleaching incident on record last year, but the good news is that the casualties from the six-month episode may be lower than expected.

Fifteen to 20 per cent of the corals here died because of the bleaching, the National Parks Board (NParks) estimates.

This is comparable to and lower than the mortality rates for two other major bleaching episodes in 2010 and 1998, even though last year’s event was the longest.

Corals depend on symbiotic algae, called zooxanthellae, to make food. Bleaching occurs when abnormally high sea temperatures cause the zooxanthellae living in the corals to leave, turning them white.

Last year, scientists observed that the corals fringing Singapore’s southern coast started bleaching in early June.

The bleaching incident was considered over only last month, when sea surface temperatures went back to the normal 29.6 deg C.

Surface sea-water temperatures in Singapore reached a high of 31.56 deg C on May 9, according to data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In 2010, bleaching started in June and ended in September. Mortality associated with bleaching then was between 5 and 10 per cent, said NParks.

The 1998 incident was the most severe in terms of coral mortality, with 25 per cent of corals dying due to the bleaching.

That year, it lasted from June to August.

All three years during which coral bleaching was observed were El Nino years.

This refers to the weather phenomenon associated with warm weather.

Marine biologist Huang Danwei, from the National University of Singapore’s Reef Ecology Lab, believes the mortality rate for last year’s bleaching episode was lower as corals may have adapted to deal with thermal stress.

“This is encouraging since they may be able to withstand the increased frequency and intensity of thermal stress, though this is on the assumption that other impacts on coral reefs, such as sedimentation, do not worsen,” said Assistant Professor Huang.

Mr Stephen Beng, chairman of the Nature Society (Singapore)’s marine conservation group, said the health of Singapore’s coral reefs should not be taken for granted, even though they appear to be able to recover from thermal stress.

“Other than warming seas, coral reefs face other stressors, such as pollution and coastal development that can affect salinity and water quality. It is important to monitor these other factors to ensure they do not impact our marine life,” he said.

Coral reefs help protect Singapore’s coastlines and wetlands from the increasingly extreme weather as the climate changes, said Mr Beng.

This article was first published on Jan 14, 2017.
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Parents of some children in a well-known primary school have complained about the selection process for Higher Chinese.

St Hilda’s Primary pupils are routed into Higher Chinese classes in Primary 2 based on continual assessment test results in Primary 1.

What upset the parents was that pupils who scored as high as 97 marks in Chinese last year were told that they had failed to make the cut for Higher Chinese.

A father, whose child was keen on taking up Higher Chinese, was told that even though the boy had scored 97 marks, he did not fall into the top 25 per cent of the cohort for the subject and did not qualify.

The school’s Chinese department head said a number of pupils in Primary 1 scored 97 marks.

The parents, who asked not to be named, said that although they were told of the selection process in Primary 1, they did not expect the bar to be set so high.

The mother of another pupil who missed out said she was disappointed that the school would not take into account a pupil’s interest.

“My child is interested in Chinese, that’s why I was disappointed that despite her doing well, she was not selected to study Higher Chinese,” she said. “(The Education Ministry) urging young people to follow their interests and aspirations just sounds hollow.”

The father of the first pupil felt such practices run counter to policymakers urging parents to stop chasing the last mark.

“The ministers had been talking about how we need to move away from differentiating students more finely than necessary,” he said.

“Changes are being made to the PSLE so that pupils focus on their own learning and not on competing with their peers. Surely, such practices go against this thinking?”

He said streaming pupils in Primary 1 was “way too early” and it would be better for schools to allow all children to take up Higher Chinese from Primary 1, as is the practice in the 15 Special Assistance Plan (SAP) primary schools.

At all SAP primary schools, children take Higher Chinese from Primary 1. At the end of Primary 4, those who do well are encouraged to continue with Higher Chinese.

Another parent with a Primary 1 child in St Hilda’s Primary said he was worried for his daughter, who wants to take Higher Chinese.

“How can 97 marks be not good enough?” he said. “These are the kinds of practices that push parents to send their kids for high-end tuition that costs $1,000 a month.”

St Hilda’s Primary principal Kew Mee Ying told The Straits Times that the school introduced Higher Chinese at Primary 2 in 2014.

She said it continually reviews pupils to ensure they are learning at a suitable pace and added that pupils have opportunities to offer Higher Chinese beyond Primary 2, if they show they have the ability.

Pupils who wish to opt out can also do so.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) said most schools offer Higher Chinese from Primary 5.

But as some pupils can go beyond the standard Chinese Language curriculum, and since the Higher Chinese curriculum is already available for SAP primary schools, schools could offer it to pupils with stronger ability.

A pupil not offered Higher Chinese in lower primary can still take it later.

MOE said it was up to the schools to decide on selection criteria: “There is flexibility…for a child to take up or drop Higher Chinese Language at different levels.

“Such differentiation in curriculum allows schools to more effectively engage students with varying language abilities.”

This article was first published on Jan 14, 2017.
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