This study aimed to explore the indirect effects of appearance-related anxiety (ARA) on Instagram addiction (IA) through sequential mediators, namely social media activity intensity (SMAI) and Instagram feed dependency (IFD). The study also aimed to provide theoretical explanations for the observed relationships and contribute to the understanding of the complex interplay between appearance-related concerns, social media usage, and addictive behaviors in the context of IA. A sample of 306 participants was used for the analysis. The results of the sequential mediation analysis (SMA) revealed several important findings. Firstly, the mediation model demonstrated that SMAI mediated the relationship between ARA and IA. However, there was no direct relationship observed between ARA and SMAI. Secondly, the analysis showed that IFD acted as a second mediator in the relationship between ARA and IA. Both ARA and SMAI had significant direct effects on IA, indicating their individual contributions to addictive behaviors. Furthermore, the total effect model confirmed a positive relationship between ARA and IA. This finding suggests that ARA has a direct influence on the development of IA. The examination of indirect effects revealed that ARA indirectly influenced IA through the sequential mediators of SMAI, IFD, and ultimately IA itself. The completely standardized indirect effect of ARA on IA through these mediators was found to be significant. Overall, this study provides evidence for the indirect effects of ARA on IA and highlights the mediating roles of SMAI and IFD. These findings contribute to our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the complex relationship between appearance-related concerns, social media usage, and the development of IA.

Introduction: Chatbots are increasingly utilized in education, offering real-time, personalized communication. While research has explored technical aspects of chatbots, user experience remains under-investigated. This study examines a model for evaluating user experience and satisfaction with chatbots in higher education. Methodology: A four-factor model (information quality, system quality, chatbot experience, user satisfaction) was proposed based on prior research. An alternative two-factor model emerged through exploratory factor analysis, focusing on “Chatbot Response Quality” and “User Experience and Satisfaction with the Chatbot.” Surveys were distributed to students and faculty at a university in Ecuador to collect data. Confirmatory factor analysis validated both models. Results: The two-factor model explained a significantly greater proportion of the data’s variance (55.2%) compared to the four-factor model (46.4%). Conclusion: This study suggests that a simpler model focusing on chatbot response quality and user experience is more effective for evaluating chatbots in education. Future research can explore methods to optimize these factors and improve the learning experience for students.

Based on the different cultural background, the dissertation mainly talks about the catering culture in the East and the West from the aspects of people’s concepts, eating ingredients, cooking methods, food names and table manners. Through the comparisons, it allows people to know more about the different eating habits and regional characteristics, which promote cross-cultural communication. In addition, China, as a country which is famous for her delicacies, is introduced chiefly. Then some popular restaurants or snack bars will be mentioned in order to analyze today’s food tendency. With the development of our society, the combination of the Eastern and Western food culture will still continue.

Building cooling load depends on heat gains from the outside environment. Appropriate orientation and masonry materials play vital roles in the reduction of overall thermal loads buildings. A net-zero energy building performance has been analyzed in order to ascertain the optimum orientation and wall material properties, under the climatic conditions of Owerri, Nigeria. Standard cooling load estimation techniques were employed for the determination of the diurnal interior load variations in a building incorporating renewable energy as the major energy source, and compared with the situation in a conventionally powered building. The results show a 19.28% reduction in the building’s cooling load when brick masonry was used for the wall construction. It was observed that a higher heat gain occurred when the building faced the East-West direction than when it was oriented in the North-South direction. Significant diurnal cooling loads variation as a result of radiation through the windows was also observed, with the east facing windows contributing significantly higher loads during the morning hours while the west facing windows contributed higher amounts in the evening. The economic analysis of the net-zero energy building showed an 11.63% reduction in energy cost compared to the conventional building, with a 7-year payback period for the use of Solar PV systems. Therefore, the concept of net-zero energy building will not only help in energy conservation, but also in cost savings, and the reduction of carbon footprint in the built environment.

The promulgation of the Curriculum Standards for ordinary high School (2017 edition, 2020 revision) has effectively promoted the reform of high school mathematics classroom. In order to cope with the change of textbook content in the new curriculum reform, it has become one of the important tasks for high school mathematics teachers to implement teaching activities better and sort out and analyze the differences between the old and new textbooks. This paper analyzes the differences between old and new textbooks from the three dimensions of system structure, course content and example exercises, and gives some reasonable teaching suggestions. Among them, the new textbook uses 2019 "Ordinary High School Textbook" person-taught A version of Compulsory Mathematics 1, and the old textbook uses 2004 "Ordinary High School Mathematics Curriculum Standard Experimental Textbook" person-taught A version of compulsory Mathematics 4. In general, the adjustment of the new teaching materials is more in line with the cognitive characteristics of students, pay attention to the penetration of mathematical culture and pay attention to the development of students' mathematical core literacy.