Nottingham Trent University

About: Nottingham Trent University is a education organization based out in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 4702 authors who have published 12862 publications receiving 307430 citations. The organization is also known as: NTU & Trent Polytechnic.

Social responsibility tools in online gambling: a survey of attitudes and behavior among Internet gamblers.

Abstract: To date, little empirical research has focused on social responsibility in gambling. This study examined players' attitudes and behavior toward using the social responsibility tool PlayScan designed by the Swedish gaming company Svenska Spel. Via PlayScan, players have the option to utilize various social responsibility control tools (e.g., personal gaming budgets, self-diagnostic tests of gambling habits, self-exclusion options). A total of 2,348 participants took part in an online questionnaire study. Participants were clientele of the Svenska Spel online gambling Web site. Results showed that just over a quarter of players (26%) had used PlayScan. The vast majority of those who had activated PlayScan (almost 9 in 10 users) said that PlayScan was easy to use. Over half of PlayScan users (52%) said it was useful; 19% said it was not. Many features were seen as useful by online gamblers, including limit setting (70%), viewing their gambling profile (49%), self-exclusion facilities (42%), self-dia...

Self-reported dependence on mobile phones in young adults: a European cross-cultural empirical survey

Abstract: Background and aims Despite many positive benefits, mobile phone use can be associated with harmful and detrimental behaviors. The aim of this study was twofold: to examine (a) cross-cultural patterns of perceived dependence on mobile phones in ten European countries, first, grouped in four different regions (North: Finland and UK; South: Spain and Italy; East: Hungary and Poland; West: France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland), and second by country, and (b) how socio-demographics, geographic differences, mobile phone usage patterns, and associated activities predicted this perceived dependence. Methods A sample of 2,775 young adults (aged 18-29 years) were recruited in different European Universities who participated in an online survey. Measures included socio-demographic variables, patterns of mobile phone use, and the dependence subscale of a short version of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ; Billieux, Van der Linden, & Rochat, 2008). Results The young adults from the Northern and Southern regions reported the heaviest use of mobile phones, whereas perceived dependence was less prevalent in the Eastern region. However, the proportion of highly dependent mobile phone users was more elevated in Belgium, UK, and France. Regression analysis identified several risk factors for increased scores on the PMPUQ dependence subscale, namely using mobile phones daily, being female, engaging in social networking, playing video games, shopping and viewing TV shows through the Internet, chatting and messaging, and using mobile phones for downloading-related activities. Discussion and conclusions Self-reported dependence on mobile phone use is influenced by frequency and specific application usage.

Measurement of tissue transglutaminase activity in a permeabilized cell system: its regulation by Ca2+ and nucleotides

Abstract: Electropermeabilized human endothelial cells (ECV-304) were used to study the regulation of tissue transglutaminase (tTGase) activity in the intracellular environment. An ELSA (enzyme-linked sorbent assay) plate assay was developed for intracellular tTGase activity, using the incorporation of a biotinylated primary amine, 5-?[(N-biotinoylamino)hexanoyl]amino?pentylamine(biotin-x-cadaveri ne; BTC), into endogenous protein substrates of tTGase. This incorporation process was inhibited by competitive inhibitors of tTGase, cystamine and monodansylcadaverine, in a dose-dependent manner. Over a 30 min period tTGase and its protein substrates did not leak out of the cell, and no incorporation of BTC occurred in unpermeabilized cells, indicating the reaction to be intracellular. In the presence of 10 nM or 10 muM CA2+, when nucleotides ATP and GTP were added at concentrations mimicking cytosolic levels, tTGase activity was decreased virtually to zero. Only at 100 muM Ca2+, when nucleotides were low or absent was tTGase activity observed. Under these conditions a variety of proteins was labelled by the enzyme, with the major labelling found in a protein of molecular mass around 51 kDa when analysed by SDS/PAGE/Western blotting.

Voluntary Limit Setting and Player Choice in Most Intense Online Gamblers: An Empirical Study of Gambling Behaviour

Abstract: Social responsibility in gambling has become a major issue for the gaming industry. The possibility for online gamblers to set voluntary time and money limits are a social responsibility practice that is now widespread among online gaming operators. The main issue concerns whether the voluntary setting of such limits has any positive impact on subsequent gambling behaviour and whether such measures are of help to problem gamblers. In this paper, this issue is examined through data collected from a representative random sample of 100,000 players who gambled on the win2day gambling website. When opening an account at the win2day site, there is a mandatory requirement for all players to set time and cash-in limits (that cannot exceed 800 € per week). During a 3-month period, all voluntary time and/or money limit setting behaviour by a subsample of online gamblers (n = 5,000) within this mandatory framework was tracked and recorded for subsequent data analysis. From the 5,000 gamblers, the 10 % most intense players (as measured by theoretical loss) were further investigated. Voluntary spending limits had the highest significant effect on subsequent monetary spending among casino and lottery gamblers. Monetary spending among poker players significantly decreased after setting a voluntary time limit. The highest significant decrease in playing duration was among poker players after setting a voluntary playing duration limit. The results of the study demonstrated that voluntary limit setting had a specific and significant effect on the studied gamblers. Therefore, voluntary limits appear to show an appropriate effect in the desired target group (i.e., the most gaming intense players).