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Digital systems offer computational power and instant feedback. Game designers are using these features to create scaffolding tools to reduce player frustration. However, researchers are finding some unexpected effects of scaffolding on strategy development and problem-solving behaviors. We used a digital Sudoku game named Professor Sudoku to classify built-in critical features, frustration control and demonstration scaffolds, and to investigate their effects on player/learner behaviors. Our data indicate that scaffolding support increased the level at which puzzles could be solved, and decreased frustration resulting from excessive numbers of retries. However, it also reduced the number of unassisted placements (i.e., independently filled cells), and increased reliance on scaffolding tools, both of which are considered disadvantageous for learning. Among the three scaffold types, frustration control reduced the potential for players to feel stuck at certain levels, but also reduced the frequency of use of critical feature-making tools, which are thought to have greater heuristic value. We conclude that the simultaneous provision of critical feature and frustration control scaffolds may increase player reliance on available support, thereby reducing learning opportunities. Providing players with critical features and demonstration scaffolds at the same time increases reliance on available support for some players, but for most it encourages the development of solving strategies.

Teachers interested in small-group learning can benefit from using psychological factors to create heterogeneous groups. In this paper we describe a computer-supported grouping system named DIANA that uses genetic algorithms to achieve fairness, equity, flexibility, and easy implementation. Grouping was performed so as to avoid the creation of exceptionally weak groups. We tested DIANA with 66 undergraduate computer science students assigned to groups of three either randomly (10 groups) or using an algorithm reflecting [Sternberg, R. J. (1994). Thinking styles: theory and assessment at the interface between intelligence and personality. In R. J. Sterberg, & P. Ruzgis (Eds.), Personality and Intelligence (pp. 169-187). New York: Cambridge University Press.] three thinking styles (12 groups). The results indicate that: (a) the algorithm-determined groups were more capable of completing whatever they were ''required to do'' at a statistically significant level, (b) both groups were equally capable of solving approximately 80% of what they ''chose to do,'' and (c) the algorithm-determined groups had smaller inter-group variation in performance. Levels of satisfaction with fellow group member attitudes, the cooperative process, and group outcomes were also higher among members of the algorithm-determined groups. Suggestions for applying computer-supported group composition systems are offered.

Steroid hormones released from manure agricultural application are a matter of global concern. The residual levels of steroid hormones were studied in a typical intensive vegetable cultivation area in northeast China, with a long history of heavy manure application. Seven steroids (estrone, 17α-estradiol, 17β-estradiol, estriol, testosterone, androstendione and progesterone) were analyzed from soil sampled from vegetable greenhouses, from sediments and water from the adjacent drainage ditch and from the groundwater. The results showed that target steroids were detected in the soil samples, with detection frequencies varying from 3.13 to 100%. The steroid concentrations varied substantially in soils, ranging from below the detection limit to 109.7μg·kg(-1). Three steroids-progesterone, androstendione and estrone-were found to have relatively high residue concentrations in soil, with maximum concentrations of 109.7, 9.83 and 13.30μg·kg(-1), respectively. In adjacent groundwater, all the steroids, with the exception of estrone, were detected in one or more of the 13 groundwater samples. The concentrations of steroids in groundwater ranged from below the method detection limit to 2.38ng·L(-1). Six of the seven (excluding androstendione) were detected in drainage ditch water samples, with concentrations ranging from below the detection limit to 14ng·L(-1). Progesterone, androstendione and estrone accumulated relatively easily in soils; their concentrations in groundwater were lower than those of other steroids. The concentrations of testosterone and estriol were relatively low in soil, while in groundwater were higher than those of other steroids. The residual levels of steroids in soil and groundwater showed a clear spatial variation in the study area. The residual levels of steroid hormones in soil varied substantially between differently planted greenhouses.

In this paper, a new e-map navigation system is designed to provide users with regional navigation services. It provided users keyword search, multiple classification search, and region search, so that userspsila need for diversified searches can be satisfied. Besides, this system applies chromatology to visualize search results, using colors to present landmarks and different degrees of chroma to describe landmark information. It is expected that through improvement of the system design and the information retrieval interface, userpsilas search cost can be reduced and better navigation services can be provided in a more efficient manner.

Reinforcement learning theory encourages the use of agents for stimulating and assisting learners in their efforts to develop thinking styles. In this study the authors looked at a similar scenario of human-environmental interaction using Internet-mediated simulations as learning environments. One hundred and forty-nine vocational high schools students participated in this study to see if they can develop adequate thinking style when they learned in a simulation environment with help from agents. The results show that the judicial thinking style was best suited to the system we designed for this project - that is, we observed the greatest amount of development for this particular thinking style. Our results indicate that it is possible to establish and support thinking styles via Internet-mediated simulations.