Intensity Of Component Research Articles

A multi features based background modeling approach for moving object detection

Background subtraction always remains an important and challenging task for different applications. Our previous work established the effectiveness of hybrid model by exploiting the oriented patterns present in a video sequences over other statistical method. To extend this approach further, we have proposed a novel approach herein by eliminating GLCM based features with an improved local Zernike moment and color components of intensity. These features are clubbed with the orientation based features extracted from angle co-occurrence matrices (ACMs) to model the background. Furthermore the Mahalanobis distance measure is replaced by Canberra distance to categorized foreground and background pixels, which significantly reduces the computational complexity of the proposed method due to the absence of covariance matrix measure. Comparative results have shown that our proposed method is effective than other competing method on different set of video sequences.

Corruption as a perverse Innovation: The dark side of digitalization and corruption in international business

Digitalization has had pervasive effects on corruption, introducing new opportunities and challenges to minimize the use of corruptive behaviours. This study investigates the dark side effects of digitalization, documenting its facilitation of corruption across countries as a form of perverse innovation. Building upon the theory of moral intensity and the extant literature on innovation, modularity, and complexity and considering the international business context, we develop a multilevel conceptual model with testable future research propositions. The core of our model is that each act has a component of moral intensity that determines the likelihood of individual MNE agents engaging in corrupt business behaviour. Furthermore, the complexity and modularity of products and services, coupled with a highly complicated international business environment, can facilitate the ease with which individual actors can engage in corrupt business practices. Finally, we provide recommendations for both theory and practice.

Spectroscopic and theoretical studies of some 2-(2′-ethylsulfanyl)acetyl-5-substituted furans and thiophenes

The conformational equilibrium of 2-(2′-ethylsulfanyl)acetyl-5-substituted furans and thiophenes [EtSCH2C(O)(C4H2X)Y] (1–5; Scheme 1) was determined through the infrared analysis of the carbonyl stretching band (νCO) supported by DFT (B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ) and molecular dynamics simulations (OPLS-AA). Six stable conformations, syn(1–3) and anti(1–3), were obtained through the optimisation of the isolated systems, where the syn/anti nomenclature refers to the dihedral angle between the carbonyl and the aromatic heteroatom (O=C–C–X; X = O, S) and 1, 2, and 3 refer to the ethyl rotation (Scheme 2) (torsion around the γ dihedral angle). The three ethyl conformers resemble six- (1 and 2) or seven-(3) member pseudo-rings with an electrostatic intramolecular hydrogen bond (Oδ-···Hδ+). The IR spectra in solution show νCO doublets for all compounds in all solvents (n-C6H14, CCl4, CHCl3, CH2Cl2 and CH3CN). The polarisable continuum model and molecular dynamics data allow the lowest wavenumber and more intense νCO IR component to be ascribed to the three anti conformers of the furan derivatives and to the three syn ones of the thiophene compounds. The conformational preferences of all compounds are governed by a balance between orbital and coulombic interactions, as estimated by means of natural bond orbital, natural coulomb electrostatic, pairwise steric exchange energy, quantum theory of atoms in molecules, non-covalent interaction and short-contact analyses. While the conformational isomerism of the ethylthioacetyl moiety is determined by both quantum and columbic effects, the equilibrium involving the carbonyl and heterocyclic moiety is controlled largely by electrostatic interactions.

7 tricks for 7 T CEST: Improving the reproducibility of multipool evaluation provides insights into the effects of age and the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

The objective of the current study was to optimize the postprocessing pipeline of 7 T chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging for reproducibility and to prove this optimization for the detection of age differences and differences between patients with Parkinson's disease versus normal subjects. The following 7 T CEST MRI experiments were analyzed: repeated measurements of a healthy subject, subjects of two age cohorts (14 older, seven younger subjects), and measurements of 12 patients with Parkinson's disease. A slab-selective, -homogeneous parallel transmit protocol was used. The postprocessing, consisting of motion correction, smoothing, -correction, normalization, denoising, -correction and Lorentzian fitting, was optimized regarding the intrasubject and intersubject coefficient of variation (CoV) of the amplitudes of the amide pool and the aliphatic relayed nuclear Overhauser effect (rNOE) pool within the brain. Seven "tricks" for postprocessing accomplished an improvement of the mean voxel CoV of the amide pool and the aliphatic rNOE pool amplitudes of less than 5% and 3%, respectively. These postprocessing steps are: motion correction with interpolation of the motion of low-signal offsets (1) using the amide pool frequency offset image as reference (2), normalization of the Z-spectrum using the outermost saturated measurements (3), correction of the Z-spectrum with moderate spline smoothing (4), denoising using principal component analysis preserving the 11 highest intensity components (5), correction using a linear fit (6) and Lorentzian fitting using the five-pool fit model (7). With the optimized postprocessing pipeline, a significant age effect in the amide pool can be detected. Additionally, for the first time, an aliphatic rNOE contrast between subjects with Parkinson's disease and age-matched healthy controls in the substantia nigra is detected. We propose an optimized postprocessing pipeline for CEST multipool evaluation. It is shown that by the use of these seven "tricks", the reproducibility and, thus, the statistical power of a CEST measurement, can be greatly improved and subtle changes can be detected.

Calculation of Magnetic Flux Density Harmonics in the Vicinity of Overhead Lines

This paper considers the method for the calculation of magnetic flux density in the vicinity of overhead distribution lines which takes into account the higher current harmonics. This method is based on the Biot–Savart law and the complex image method. The considered method calculates the values of the magnetic flux density for each harmonic component of the current separately at all points of interest (usually lateral profile). In this way, it is possible to determine the contributions of individual harmonic components of the current intensity to the total value of magnetic flux density. Based on the contributions of individual harmonic components, the total (resultant) value of the magnetic flux density at points of interest is determined. Validation of the computational method is carried out by comparison of the results obtained by the considered calculation method with measurement results. Furthermore, the application of the calculation method was demonstrated by calculating magnetic flux density harmonics in the vicinity of two overhead distribution lines of typical phase conductor arrangements.

Image quality improvements of diffuse optical tomography by using multiple polarization components

The inverse process of diffuse optical tomography (DOT) is ill-posed, which has a significant effect on the quality of the reconstructed results. In this paper, the polarization characteristics of light are introduced into the inverse solution model of DOT to increase the solution constraints and improve the imaging quality. The spectral element method is used to numerically solve the vector radiative transfer equation, which is used to simulate the propagation of polarized light in a scattering medium. The DOT reverse solution algorithm based on the polarization component is constructed so that the Stokes vector can be used for absorption coefficient and scattering coefficient reconstruction. The simulation and experimental results show that when polarized light is used for incidence, using the intensity component and the multi-polarization component to solve the DOT inverse model can improve the reconstruction accuracy of the medium absorption coefficient distribution and the DOT image quality.

Content‐based image retrieval for super‐resolutioned images using feature fusion: Deep learning and hand crafted

AbstractAn innovative image retrieval agenda by concatenating deep learning features from GoogleNet and low‐level features from HSI and RGB color space is proposed in this article. Most of the CNN features suffer from loss of information due to image resize as a pre‐processing stage. To reduce this information loss super‐resolution technic is used for resizing images. An improved form of dot‐diffused block truncation coding is used for extracting RGB handcraft features. To discover the interdependencies between color and intensity component of an image, interchannel voting between hue, saturation, and intensity component is calculated as a color feature in HSI space. Histogram of orientated gradient (HOG) feature is used as shape feature. Five standard performance parameters, average precision rate, average recall rate, F‐Measure, Average Normalized Modified Retrieval Rank, and Total Minimum Retrieval Epoch, are applied on nine image datasets: Corel‐1K, Corel‐5K, Corel‐10K, VisTex, STex, ColorBrodatz and three subsets of ImageNet dataset for evaluation process of proposed method. For all dataset the best performance is achieved by the proposed method with respect to all performance parameters.

Improving the Hip Fracture Risk Prediction with a Statistical Shape-and-Intensity Model of the Proximal Femur

Severe predictions have been made regarding osteoporotic fracture incidence for the next years, with major economic and social impacts in a worldwide greying society. However, the performance of the currently adopted gold standard for fracture risk prediction, the areal Bone Mineral Density (aBMD), remains moderate. To overcome current limitations, the construction of statistical models of the proximal femur, based on three-dimensional shape and intensity (a hallmark of bone density), is here proposed for predicting hip fracture in a Caucasian postmenopausal cohort. Partial Least Square (PLS)-based statistical models of the shape, intensity and their combination were developed, and the corresponding modes and components were identified. Logistic regression models using the first two shape, intensity and shape-intensity PLS components were implemented and tested within a 10-fold cross-validation procedure as predictors of hip fracture. It emerged that (1) intensity components were superior to shape components in stratifying patients according to their fracture status, and that (2) a combination of intensity and shape improved patients risk stratification. The area under the ROC curve was 0.64, 0.85 and 0.92 for the models based on shape, intensity and shape-intensity combination respectively, against a 0.72 value for the aBMD standard approach. Based on these findings, the presented methodology turns out to be promising in tackling the need for an enhanced fracture risk assessment.

Modern Therapy for Spinal and Paraspinal Ewing Sarcoma: An Update of the University of Florida Experience

In 2010, we published a comprehensive review of our institutional outcomes about treating children with spinal and paraspinal Ewing sarcoma using photon therapy. Multimodality therapy was associated with fair disease control but also with serious toxicity, including a 37% rate of grade 3 or greater toxicity. We therefore sought to assess our more recent experience about treating children with more modern technology and treatment regimens. Between 2010 and 2021, 32 pediatric patients with nonmetastatic spinal and paraspinal Ewing sarcoma were treated at University of Florida and enrolled in a retrospective outcome study. Median age at diagnosis was 9.8 years (range, 2.1-21.8 years). Within the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine regions, 3, 22, and 7 tumors arose, respectively. Median maximum tumor diameter was 5 cm (range, 3-19 cm). At diagnosis, 28 of 32 patients had motor, bowel, or bladder deficits. Chemotherapy was delivered according to contemporary North American and European interval-compressed regimens. Before radiation therapy, 14 patients underwent gross total resection, whereas 18 underwent a biopsy or subtotal resection with cord decompression. All patients were treated with proton therapy; 6 with hardware stabilization also received a component of intensity modulated photon therapy. Median prescription dose was 50.4 gray relative biological effectiveness (GyRBE; range, 45-55.8 GyRBE). Median maximum dose to the spinal cord was 50.2 GyRBE (range, 0-54.9 GyRBE). With a median follow-up of 4.1 years (range, 0.7-9.4 years), the 5-year local control, progression-free survival, and overall survival rates were 92%, 79%, and 85%, respectively. Ten of 30 living patients have residual motor, bowel, or bladder deficits. Overall, 22% of patients experienced Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events grade 3 late toxicity related to multimodality treatment: kyphosis (n=4), esophagitis (n=2), and chronic kidney disease (n=1). No patients developed grade 4 or greater toxicity, new neurologic deficits, or second malignancy. Modern treatment advances may offer an improved therapeutic ratio for pediatric patients with spinal and paraspinal Ewing sarcoma. With appropriate management, most patients can be cured with recovery of long-term neurologic function and modest side effects.

Hyperspectral Pansharpening via Local Intensity Component and Local Injection Gain Estimation

Hyperspectral (HS) pansharpening is an attractive topic in the field of remote sensing, which has attracted the attention of many researchers. Component substitution (CS)-based HS pansharpening algorithms are of great interest due to their simplicity and high spatial quality, and they mainly consist of two phases: detail extraction and detail injection. Detail extraction is performed by estimating the intensity component, whereas detail injection depends on the definition of injection gain. In the classic CS-based pansharpening methods, the intensity component is estimated through a global synthesis scheme, and injection gains can be obtained by a context-adaptive or a global approach. In this letter, we propose an improved CS-based HS pansharpening method in which the intensity component and the injection gain are estimated locally achieved by the binary partition tree (BPT) image segmentation algorithm. The proposed method is applied to two credible CS-based HS pansharpening algorithms, including the Gram–Schmidt adaptive (GSA) and the Brovey transform (Brovey). The experimental results show that the proposed method improves the performance of GSA and Brovey and creates promising results perceptually and quantitatively.

Brain Image Fusion Approach based on Side Window Filtering

Brain medical image fusion plays an important role in framing a contemporary image to enhance the reciprocal and repetitive information for diagnosis purposes. A novel approach using kernel-based image filtering on brain images is presented. Firstly, the Bilateral filter is used to generate a high-frequency component of a source image. Secondly, an intensity component is estimated for the first image. Thirdly, side window filtering is employed on several filters, including the guided filter, gradient guided filter, and weighted guided filter. Thereby minimizing the difference between the intensity component of the first image and the low pass filter of the second image. Finally, the fusion result is evaluated based on three evaluation indexes, including standard deviation (STD), features mutual information (FMI), average gradient (AG). The fused image based on this algorithm contains more information, more details, and clearer edges for better diagnosis. Thus, our fused image-based method is good at finding the position and state of the target volume, which leads to keeping away from the healthy parts and ensuring patients’ soundness.

"White people stress me out all the time": Black students define racial trauma.

Using a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm and a Black feminist qualitative framework, this study investigated how Black students at a predominantly White university in the southeast defined racial trauma. A purposive sample of 26 participants (10 men and 16 women, aged 18-27) participated in a semistructured interview about their definitions of race-based stress and racial trauma. Data analysis consisted of a six-phase inductive, latent thematic analysis. Researcher reflexivity, interviews, observations, and research memos contributed to trustworthiness. Participants' understandings of race-based stress and racial trauma-informed two composite definitions of racial trauma. Participants conceptualized racial trauma and race-based stress as related and identified three salient components of racial trauma: (a) "Sticking with": temporal component, (b) "Suffering severely": intensity component, and (c) "Repeating regularly": frequency component. The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature by providing an academic and community definition of racial trauma grounded in the voices of Black collegians. These definitions of racial trauma may be used to inform future research, clinical services, and outreach. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Bioluminescence of Aliivibrio Fischeri in Artificial Seawater and Its Application in Fungicide Sensing.

It has been well investigated that the bioluminescence (BL) intensity of marine luminous bacteria is enhanced depending on cell density. In contrast, the correlation between seawater components and BL intensity is still a challenging subject to be addressed. In addition, the marine luminous bacteria rapidly lose the BL intensity when exposed to toxic substances, but unclear to fungicides. Herein, we introduce a new approach to investigate (i) the correlation between the components of artificial seawater (ASW) and BL intensity and (ii) the corresponding protocol to determine the susceptibility of marine luminous bacteria to fungicide using A. fischeri. The examples show that (i) ionic ingredients (K+, HCO3-, and SO42-) activate the BL cell density independently and (ii) A. fischeri cultured with the ionic ingredients shows the susceptibility to fungicide (sodium ortho-phenylphenol and imazalil). These protocols provide a new insight how to investigate the correlation between inorganic salts and BL intensity in a low cell density environment such as seawater.

Multi-Scale Exposure Fusion Based on Multi-Visual Feature Measurement and Detail Enhancement Representation

Multi-exposure image fusion (MEF) is used to generate a high-quality image from a series of images with different exposure levels. The multi-scale-based MEF method achieves better fusion performance than single-scale-based method because it can better preserve the global contrast information. However, this method still has the problem of the loss of details in the fused results. To solve this problem, a novel multi-scale exposure image fusion method based on multi-visual feature measurement and detail enhancement representation in the IHS color space is proposed. First, three visual features of the source multi-exposure images, namely contrast, saturation, and exposure, are measured and are then adopted to construct the initial weight maps with adaptive weighting coefficients. Second, to optimize the initial weight maps and obtain the middle weight maps, a decision map construction method is proposed by comparing the pixel values of the detail maps of the intensity components, which can enhance the representation of detail information. Third, guided filtering is applied to eliminate the noise in the middle weight maps to obtain the final weight maps, which improves the visual effect of the fused image. Finally, image pyramid decomposition and reconstruction are performed on the source images and the final weight maps to achieve the final fused image. Numerical experimental results indicate that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of subjective visual and quantitative evaluations.

An Intensity-dependent Slow Component of HR Interferes with Accurate Exercise Implementation in Postmenopausal Women.

ABSTRACTHeart rate (HR) targets are commonly used to administer exercise intensity in sport and clinical practice. However, as exercise protracts, a time-dependent dissociation between HR and metabolism can lead to a misprescription of the intensity ingredient of the exercise dose.PurposeWe tested the hypothesis that a slow component of HR (i.e., scHR) occurs in all intensity domains, greater than the slow component of oxygen uptake (scV˙O2), and we developed an equation to predict it across exercise intensities.MethodEighteen healthy, postmenopausal women (54 ± 4 yr) performed on a cycle ergometer: i) a ramp incremental test for thresholds and V˙O2max detection; ii) 30-min constant work exercise at 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80% V˙O2max for the measurement of scHR, scV˙O2, stroke volume, and body temperature (T°). scHR and scV˙O2 were compared by two-way repeated-measures ANOVA (intensity and variable). Pearson correlation was calculated between the slow component of all variables, relative intensity, and domain. scHR (in beats per minute) was predicted with a linear model based on exercise intensity relative to the respiratory compensation point (RCP).ResultsA positive scHR was present in all domains, twice the size of scV̇O2 (P < 0.001), and significantly correlated with the slow components of V̇O2 (r2 = 0.46), T° (r2 = 0.52), and relative intensity (r2 = 0.66). A linear equation accurately predicts scHR based on %RCP (r2 = 0.66, SEE = 0.15).ConclusionsA mismatch exists between the slow components of HR and metabolic intensity. Whenever exercise is prescribed based on HR, target values should be adjusted over time to grant that the desired metabolic stimulus is maintained throughout the exercise session.

Morphological Based Medical Image Processing on Cervical Cytology Cancer Images Using Connected Component Techniques.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. In 2018, it was estimated 570000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and about 311000 women died from the disease. An efficient technique is essential for solving the complication in the diagnosis of cervical cancer images. In this research, a new method is developed for cervical cancer image segmentation. First, the RGB image is converted into an HSI color model. The thresholding is applied to the saturation and intensity components to get binary images. These binary images are combined to get a new mask. Using the connected component concept nucleus and cytoplasm are segmented accurately. For the performance evaluation, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), mean square error (MSE), structural similarity index (SSIM), image quality index (IQI), structural content (SC), normalized cross-correlation (NK), precision (PR), recall (RC), the Average Difference (AD) and image fidelity (IF) are taken. The proposed techniques' highest PSNR values are 44.2341, 46.7953, 60.5925, and 61.4862, respectively. The proposed segmentation technique can attain a high PSNR (>40db) value at a threshold value equal to 0.1. Also proposed approach attains good precision, recall, and SSIM values. The lowest MSE values using proposed segmentation techniques are 0.0454, 0.0351, 0.0924, and 0.0271 individually. The AD, NK, SC, NAE, and LMSE values for the implemented approach are low, showing the segmented image's quality is very good. Thus, the proposed model performed better compared to other methods.

ИЗМЕНЕНИЕ КАЧЕСТВА ЖИЗНИ ПОСЛЕ ХИРУРГИЧЕСКОГО ЛЕЧЕНИЯ ВТОРИЧНОГО ГИПЕРПАРАТИРЕОЗА У ПАЦИЕНТОВ, ПОЛУЧАЮЩИХ ЗАМЕСТИТЕЛЬНУЮ ПОЧЕЧНУЮ ТЕРАПИЮ ГЕМОДИАЛИЗОМ

Objective. To assess quality of life (QoL) using the Short Form Medical Outcomes Study (SF-36) questionnaire before and after surgical treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy. Methods. QoL was assessed before surgery and in the period from 4 to 30 months after surgical treatment of SHPT. Twenty patients were questioned according to SF-36 questionnaire in a longitudinal study and in comparison, with the population indicators of the Irkutsk region residents. The median age before surgery was 53 years, the median level of PTH before surgery was 1715 pg/ml. After surgical treatment, the median of PTH was 12.9 pg/ml, calcium - 1.99 mmol/l; phosphorus - 1.72 mmol/l within 6-12 months. Results. An unfavorable effect of SHPT on QoL of patients receiving hemodialysis was shown in comparison with population indicators. Evaluation of the effectiveness of surgical treatment of SHPT in relation to changes in the quality of life of patients is given. A statistically significant increase in QoL indicators after surgical treatment was proved for all the studied scales (pW&lt;0.05). In the long term after the operation, QoL of patients receiving hemodialysis exceeds the population indicators on the scales of the psychological component of health, pain intensity, social and role functioning. Conclusion. The SHPT in patients receiving hemodialysis is the cause of a decrease in QoL in comparison with population indicators was shown for the first time. Surgical remission of the disease leads to a statistically significant improvement in QoL, and on the scales of the psychological component of health, intensity of pain, social and role functioning, the quality of life of patients exceeds population indicators in a similar age group. The data obtained allow us to consider postoperative hypoparathyroidism as one of the favorable factors in course of postoperative period and criterion for remission of the disease. What this paper adds It has been shown that the secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients undergoing hemodialysis is the cause of a decrease in life of quality in comparison with population indicators. Surgical remission of the disease leads to a statistically significant improvement the quality of life. The data obtained allow considering postoperative hypoparathyroidism as one of the favorable factors in the course of the postoperative period and criteria for remission of the disease.

Study of the composition and structure of ion-conducting membranes based on polyvinyl alcohol by 1H NMR spectroscopy

One of the alternative types of proton-conducting membranes for a hydrogen-air solid polymer fuel cell is the type of hybrid membranes based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) crosslinked with aldehyde, modified by sulfonic acid. Earlier, for the first time, we obtained new ion – conducting membranes based on furfural-crosslinked PVA modified aminosulfonic acid (ASA) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), as well as membranes not crosslinked with furfural (FUR) or unmodified ASA and TEOS, by a liquid-phase synthesis method, in an organic medium-dimethyl sulfoxide. The values of their ionic conductivity and the degree of swelling in water are presented. In this work, the composition and structure of the obtained ion-conducting membranes are studied using liquid-phase nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy on 1H nuclei. In the 1H NMR spectrum of an ion – conducting membrane not cross-linked with the «PVA/ASA», the signal of free OH groups of PVA is observed to disappear, but at the same time a characteristic triplet at 7.1 ppm. is preserved, having a constant of ∼51 Hz and components of the same intensity (1:1:1), which corresponds to protons of 14NH4+ hydrolyzed ASA. The disappearance of the expanded signal at 9.6 m. d. of protons of the free sulfo group of ASA and a narrow singlet signal at 5.8 m. d. of free protons of the NH2 group of ASA indicates the interaction of ASA with OH groups of PVA. In the 1H NMR spectrum of an ion – conducting membrane crosslinked with FUR – «PVA/ASA/FUR», signals of protons of the furan ring of FUR and a signal of its aldehyde group are observed, which is shifted to a strong field, which is determined by the formation of a chemical bond between FUR and the polymer chain of PVA. In the 1H NMR spectra of all membranes modified by ASA, the appearance of a second weaker-field 14NH4+ triplet is observed, and in the spectra of a number of ion – conducting hybrid membranes modified by TEOS – «PVA/ASA/FUR/TEOS», signals of the third type of 14NH4+ triplets shifted in a strong field relative to the other two 14NH4+ triplets were detected. The appearance of additional 14NH4+ triplets indicates the formation of several bound forms of the ammonium ion.

ENERGY-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY OF UKRAINE

The work is devoted to methods of calculating the total energy intensity of fuel, currency, products, labor costs, raw materials and materials necessary for the practical application of energy-economic analysis of production efficiency. The article proposes a simplified methodology and performs calculations to estimate the total energy intensity of currency and products of seven sectors of the economy of Ukraine, which produce food, mineral, chemical, metallurgical and machine-building products, as well as services - transport and computer programming. Calculations were made for three types of fuel - nuclear fuel, coal and natural gas, which in 2017 accounted for more than 76% of total fuel consumption in Ukraine. The main components of the total energy intensity of the products of the national economy are due to the use of fuel for the production of fuel, electricity and heat and raw materials, as well as the cost of fuel for the production of products that workers buy for wages. The article identifies the relative energy and economic efficiency of fuel use in the economy of Ukraine

International perspectives on social media use among adolescents: Implications for mental and social well-being and substance use

In the present study, we aimed to explore the relationship between intensity of social media use (SMU), problematic SMU and well-being outcomes. Four categories of SMU were developed taking into account both intensity of use and problematic SMU simultaneously: non-active; active; intense; and problematic use. Using these four categories, we assessed associations between SMU and mental and social well-being, and substance use. Data from 190,089 respondents aged 11, 13, and 15 years from 42 countries involved in the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study were analyzed. With a slight cross-national variance, 78% of adolescents in the sample were classified as active or intense users, and 7% showed signs of problematic SMU. The remaining 15% belonged to the non-active users. Three-level regression analyses revealed that the problematic users showed the least favorable mental and social well-being profile and the highest level of substance use. Compared with active users, non-active users reported lower mental and social well-being, but also the lowest substance use levels. Intense non-problematic users showed the highest levels of social well-being. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing both the intensity and problematic component of SMU to reliably assess associations with mental and social well-being and substance use.