Recently, surface functionality and thermal property of the green nanomaterials have received wide attention in numerous applications. In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was used to prepare the nanocrystalline celluloses (NCCs) using acid hydrolysis method. The NCCs was treated with TEMPO [(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxy radical]-oxidation to prepare TEMPO-oxidized NCCs. Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) also prepared from MCC using TEMPO-oxidation. The effects of rapid cooling and chemical treatments on the thermo-structural property studies of the prepared nanocelluloses were investigated through FTIR, thermogravimetric analysis-derivative thermogravimetric (TGA-DTG), and XRD. A posteriori knowledge of the FTIR and TGA-DTG analysis revealed that the rapid cooling treatment enhanced the hydrogen bond energy and thermal stability of the TEMPO-oxidized NCC compared to other nanocelluloses. XRD analysis exhibits the effect of rapid cooling on pseudo 2 helical conformation. This was the first investigation performed on the effect of rapid cooling on structural properties of the nanocellulose.

This study explored the motivation of underperforming students at three points of time: applying the programme, studying in Year 1 and during their repeating year due to academic failure. Six underperforming Year 1 students were interviewed on their initial motivations for choosing the medical programme. Triangulation of analysts was applied in the narrative analysis. Later, these students completed the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) questionnaire twice to reflect on their learning experience in Year 1 and their repeating year. Results showed that these students initially had a mix of amotivation, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation upon applying the medical programme where the worst case scenario was that students genuinely "did not know why". It was further shown that their motivation for studying medicine was unchanged, increased or decreased over a period of time. Although this study fails to support the notion that initial motivation matters in influencing academic success, the AMS results proved that student motivation could also change over time. Hence, more effort is needed to nurture intrinsic motivation after enrolling into medical schools.

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Background: Academic struggle is a concern for students, medical schools and the society. As academic struggle does not develop in one day, qualitative research could gain an in-depth understanding on why it occurs. This qualitative research aimed to explore the reasons for why Year 1 medical students failed in their studies.Methods: This study adopted a single, embedded case design. Six Year 1 medical students repeating their studies wrote an essay to describe their experiences during the previous year. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with each student and data was analysed by two researchers. Independent analysis was compared, and discrepancies were resolved through discussions between the researchers. Results: Each student went through different experiences. Some students engaged less in studies and spent more time in leisure and extracurricular activities or having ineffective learning methods. These actions may be influenced by various reasonings such as being overconfident or unmotivated to study. However, interpreting on Theories of Action, the students’ failures may be explained by three types of invalid governing variables found in the data. Students may have performed their actions based on either inadequate knowledge, possessing misbeliefs or have no rationales at all. Invalid governing variables may have led to ineffective actions, and subsequently result in unintended consequences. Hence, all students failed the mid-year and/or end-year assessments. Conclusion: Struggling students lacked the valid governing variables in rationalising their actions. One suggestion based on the Theories of Action is the recommendation that students perform double loop learning to deeply assess and alter their governing variables.