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Previous research investigating the relationship between peer-assisted study sessions (also called supplemental instruction or peer-assisted learning) and academic performance has a number of concerns. These include the lack of inclusion of important variables such as academic motivation and personality. This study (N = 233) investigated how motivation, personality, and control variables (prior subject attempts, number of university semesters completed, prior academic achievement) have an impact on the relationship between peer-assisted study sessions attendance and academic performance for psychology students. The results indicated that peer-assisted study sessions attendance predicted academic performance when controlling for academic motivation, personality, and control variables; however, the magnitude of the relationship was almost halved (r = 0.27 to ß = 0.13). Peer-assisted study sessions attendance mediated the relationship between neuroticism (?[superscript 2] = 0.04) and prior academic achievement (?[superscript 2] = 0.05) and academic performance, indicating that participants with these characteristics benefit from the sessions. Finally, adjunct peer-assisted study sessions focused on assessment items appear to be a large part of its efficacy in this sample.

Educators and researchers are increasingly interested in the benefits of using Facebook groups attached to university courses, largely around connectedness, engagement and sense of belonging. However, thus far, there have been no broad-scale investigations on the potential outcomes of course-attached Facebook groups. The current study used both within- and between-group analyses on 471 participants, in order to investigate whether courses with an attached official or unofficial Facebook group was related to increased student engagement (in the categories of relationships with faculty members, peer relationships, behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement, valuing and a sense of belonging) and degree identity compared to courses without Facebook groups. Results indicated that students reported interacting more with unofficial than official Facebook groups. Courses with an official Facebook group had significantly greater staff connectedness compared to courses without an official Facebook group, while courses with either an official or unofficial Facebook group had a significantly higher peer relationships compared to courses without any Facebook group. Students with either an official or unofficial Facebook group had a significantly higher sense of belonging. Though students with either an official or unofficial Facebook group reported higher degree identity, this may be primarily due to the unofficial, rather than official Facebook groups; this difference may only exist in the unofficial, but not the official Facebook groups.

This paper reviews the important issues related to determining if substantial completion of a construction project has been reached. This milestone is important because it means that the contractor is entitled to the release of retainage, less deductions for uncompleted work. Because the owner has the right to occupy and use the facility, there can be no breach of contract beyond this point in time because of late completion. Liquidated damages cannot be assessed beyond substantial completion. Equipment warranties also take effect. Four questions are addressed: Was the purpose of the project defeated? Did the owner benefit from using the project? How extensive are the defects? And, how easy are the defects to correct? Of these questions, the principle one is whether the purpose of the project was defeated. If no, or if the owner benefitted from the work, substantial completion has likely been achieved. Several examples are given.

Laser-induced current transients are measured on uniaxially stressed silicon (Si) N-f/P diodes using a high speed measurement system. Controlled external mechanical stress along the <110> direction is applied via a four-point bending jig while the samples are irradiated using a cavity-dumped dye laser with a wavelength of 590 nm. A decrease in the peak current is observed for increasing tensile stress applied to the diode. Unlike tensile stress, compressive stress increases the peak current. Charge collection is observed to decrease with tensile and increase with compressive stress. These results suggest that uniaxial mechanical stress alters the current transients due to strain-induced changes in electron mobility along the <001> direction. The average effective electron mass along the <001> direction increases with tensile and decreases with compressive stress resulting from the splitting of de- generate conduction band valleys and the repopulation of electrons from higher to lower valleys. The Florida object oriented device simulator (FLOODS) is used to explain the mechanism of current transients in unstressed and stressed diodes. FLOODS is also used to predict results for values of applied stress (∼ 1 GPa) beyond those that can be obtained using the bending jig (∼ 240 MPa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]