Review of Huang Bin's WA2

The argumentative essay is well-constructed, you elaborated on the needs of nuclear power. And then you made your stand by choosing the Very-High-Temperature Reactor as the best reactor out of the 6 choices.
From paragraph 2 to 5, i can clearly see the format of your argumentative essay - supporting reasons for choosing VHTRs, followed by possible counterclaims and your rebuttals for the counterclaims. However, i am not convinced by the third reason. You are supporting your stand that VHTRs should be further funded and researched. How does extensive research and development of materials support your stand? I just find it confusing about this part. Instead, you could say that the basic technology for VHTR systems has already been established in high temperature gas reactor plants. Also, is there a reason for separating your third supporting reason with its counterclaim and rebuttal?
The conclusion is clear. You summarized and reemphasized on the supporting reasons to tell the readers why VHTRs is the best.

Good Job HB!

Alphonsus







Second and third paragraphs are on the financial and political factors. Does the developing countries have an advantage over the emission cut programme? Why is the U.S. having such high emission when it is already so developed, comparing to China? when you mentioned about the sharing of information and knowledge, what kind of information are you referring to? How does it improve efficiency in tackling global warming? About the minimum, yet realistic targets set by countries, any supporting details?

Citings are decently done, just need to take note of para-phrase or putting "" if its a quotation. In the conclusion paragraph, "In my opinion, developed and developing countries should set a realistic target and a little progress along the way is better than no progress at all.", does it really conclude on your topic? Perhaps you can emphasize on the message you want to pass on to your readers. Lastly, from the passage, how will the countries be affected if the treaty is not formed; what will happen to them?

Still! GOOD JOB JH.. keep up the good work =)

Alphonsus

Peer Review on Jian Hui's Essay

Your essay is understandable and it tells me about the urgency to form a new treaty. The essay is well-constructed, starting with the effects of global warming and then moving on to several important factors. From the references given, the information provided seems reliable. However, the part which you extracted from Michael Fitzpatrick and several other citations should be para-phrase before putting them into your essay. In paragraph 1, when you mention that the 2 groups should assist each other to improve the chances of success, how would the cooperation between the two groups improve the success rate? Also, is there any example for the short term goals to track the progress?

Second and third paragraphs are on the financial and political factors. Does the developing countries have an advantage over the emission cut programme? Why is the U.S. having such high emission when it is already so developed, comparing to China? when you mentioned about the sharing of information and knowledge, what kind of information are you referring to? How does it improve efficiency in tackling global warming? About the minimum, yet realistic targets set by countries, any supporting details?

Citings are decently done, just need to take note of para-phrase or putting "" if its a quotation. In the conclusion paragraph, "In my opinion, developed and developing countries should set a realistic target and a little progress along the way is better than no progress at all.", does it really conclude on your topic? Perhaps you can emphasize on the message you want to pass on to your readers. Lastly, from the passage, how will the countries be affected if the treaty is not formed; what will happen to them?

Still! GOOD JOB JH.. keep up the good work =)

Alphonsus

Lecture on Climate Change

There are 2 parts to the lecture on Climate Change; the issues and the responses. Dr Shie-Yui Liang briefly introduced on climate cooling & modelling, while Dr Benjamin Sovacool talked more about the institutional and individual solutions to reduce the harmful emissions of greenhouse gases.

Dr Liang explained that climate change is due to global warming or also known as heating of the earth. Global warming is caused by the increasing emission of greenhouse gases. The breakdown of greenhouse gases (in percentage) is dominated by Carbon Dioxide of a percentage of 74% followed by Methane at 16%, Nitrous Oxide at 9% and high GWP gases at 1%.

Research has shown that the increase of emission is mainly due to human activities, such as burning of fossil fuels, land use change, and agriculture. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is now much higher than in the last centuries; and has been growing faster in the last 10 years. Using a graph, Dr Liang showed us that even as the carbon dioxide emission reduces, the temperature and the sea level continued to increase slowly before levelling off.

Dr Liang then went on about the future climate (SRES scenarios), he emphasized that A1F1 is the worst as it is fossil-fuel intensive and B1 is the most ideal scenario as it is more integrated, and more ecologically friendly.

Dr Liang introduced to us that IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body, established in 1988. Throughout the years, they have been collecting data with the help of simulation climate models, known as GCMs(General Circulation Models) to monitor the climate change and project/predict future temperature changes under various scenarios. The data collected by various GCMs may vary. For example, South America (from 6 GCMs), looks different from each model. By downscaling to smaller grids, better results will be obtained. Because Singapore is too small for the GCM models(150km2, 600km2), they have to downscale to RMs(Regional Models) for analysing. Impact studies hydrological model are then carried out.

Dr Benjamin shared with us the solutions to climate change. Some institutional solutions such as reduction of fossil fuel subsidies, limiting the number of driving days and using non-motorized forms of transport will greatly assist climate stabilization.

Individual action for climate stabilization plays a role as well. If everyone plays a part, the results can be significant. Simply start by substituting a fan for the air conditioner, taking lukewarm/cold showers or unplugging electrical appliances when not in use.

Self Introduction 2

To begin with, i was born on 15th December 1987, in Singapore, Mount Alvernia Hospital. That makes me 23 this year. I used to stay in Ang Mo Kio. My memories in that town is rather blurry. However, i remember that there are a lot of good food there.
My family then moved to Pasir Ris when i was around 4 years old. We have not move since then. Main reason is probably because Pasir Ris has a very good environment, lots of vegetations. Right in front of my block, there is a park with a fishing pond integrated in it, a sports complex is being constructed at the moment. Further down, there is also a beach with lots of entertainments.
My education journey started in Pasir Ris. I studied kindergarten in one of the PAP Community Foundation in the neighborhood. I moved on to Loyang Primary School, around 600m from my house. Followed by Temasek Secondary School and Singapore Polytechnic. I studied Aeronautical Engineering, however, my interest is more on flying, commercial.
In the midst of pursing my dream, here i am, trying to get my degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Thats about all for self introduction, Cheers.

alphonsus

Self-Introduction

Hi everyone! I'm Alphonsus Chan, currently studying Mechanical Engineering in NUS. Hope we will have a memorable time in EG1471. =)

Cheers.