The significance of outdoor recreationists' digital technology engagement in peri-urban settings : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University

Outdoor recreation is reported to facilitate a range of benefits including increased physical, social, mental and spiritual well-being by giving individuals an opportunity to disconnect from their day-to-day lives (Driver, 1998b; Manning, 2011). These benefits are realised through activities in specific settings within individual experiences (Driver & Brown, 1978; Manning, 2011; McCool, 2006). A digital technology revolution is reshaping outdoor recreation participation and experience, potentially undermining principal values of nature-based recreation engagements. While the impact of digital technology on the outdoor recreation experience has been researched in remote recreation settings (Amerson et al., 2020; Ewert & Shultis, 1999; Lindell, 2014; Martin, 2016; Pohl, 2006; Shultis, 2001, 2012, 2015), little is known about how outdoor recreationists use digital technology in peri-urban settings. Growing urbanisation has increased demand for, and value of access to outdoor spaces located on the urban fringe. These accessible outdoor recreation spaces, referred to as peri-urban, are the interaction zones where urban and rural activities are juxtaposed, and form an increasingly important component of urban recreational systems (Pigram & Jenkins, 2006). Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examined the significance of digital technology from outdoor recreation users’ perspectives in the context of a peri-urban setting. Quantitative survey data was collected on the use of digital technology by outdoor recreationists (N = 520), evaluating engagement with digital technology and the implications of this engagement. Additionally, qualitative interviews (N = 40) with recreationists, recreation managers, and members of outdoor recreation groups were completed focusing on the digital technology experience and perspectives on the role of digital technology in outdoor recreation. The research was undertaken in the peri-urban recreation area of the Port Hills (Te Poho-o-Tamatea) in Christchurch, New Zealand, known for its importance as a place of recreation and natural resources. This research found that the majority of recreationists carried at least one digital device, the most common of which was the smartphone. During the outdoor recreation experience, digital devices were primarily used for self-logging and quantification, to listen to music, and to communicate and stay connected for safety, for social reasons, or to access information. Findings led to the development of a typology of digital technology engagement in the peri-urban setting. The typology revealed that for a minority of recreationists digital technology was absent from the activity, and that for the majority of recreationists technology acted as a form of reassurance, support, or dependency in the experience. Through drawing on conceptual ideas included in the recreation demand hierarchy framework, and in the literature on technology usage in urban and in outdoor recreation settings, these findings expand our understandings of how and why recreationists engage with technology. Of particular importance is the interconnectivity of the variables such as activity, setting, and outdoor recreationists’ personal preferences and experiences. The varied experiences suggested tensions between our increasingly technologised existence (Lindell, 2014; Shultis, 2001, 2016) and traditional reasons for recreating outdoors, which played out through the range of responses in this study

Travailleurs étrangers temporaires au Canada : vers une mise à jour des catégories et indicateurs démographiques ?

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Le Québec et le Canada refusent de reconnaître aux travailleurs migrants les droits protégés par la Convention de l'O.N.U.

La Convention internationale sur la protection des droits de tous les travailleurs migrants et des membres de leur famille (CDTMF), en vigueur depuis 2003 vise la protection particulière des droits humains d'un groupe de personnes particulièrement vulnérable : les non-citoyens (travailleurs et membres de leur famille). En 2007, 52 pays sont signataires de la Convention et 37 d'entre eux l'officiellement ratifiée. Aux dernières nouvelles, la campagne canadienne pour la ratification de la CDTMF a repris vie depuis 2006, notamment grâce à certains membres du Comité permanent sur la citoyenneté et l'immigration (CPCI) de la Chambre des Communes du Canada prêts à relancer le gouvernement du Parti Conservateur afin que le Ministère Affaires Étrangères Canada enclenche le processus de ratification et que, en parallèle, soit complètement revue par le Parlement canadien la politique en matière de traitement des travailleurs migrants « temporaires » et des migrants en situation d'irrégularité administrative visés par la Convention. Le CPCI prévoit ainsi tenir dans les prochaines semaines des audiences publiques afin de prendre connaissance des enjeux concernant la reconnaissance et la protection des droits des migrants au Canada

Travailleurs (im)migrants au Québec et au Canada : vers le respect administratif de leurs droits et libertés ?

Au Canada, deux grands cadres administratifs régissent les dizaines de programmes d'intégration de travailleurs étrangers sous permis temporaire de travail : le cadre administratif développé par Citoyenneté et immigration Canada (CIC), avec émission de permis de travail « ouverts » ou « semi-ouverts », et le cadre administratif développé conjointement par Ressources humaines et développement social Canada (RHDSC) et CIC, caractérisé par un processus d'émission de permis de travail « hyperrestrictifs » ou « restrictifs » basée sur le modèle de 1955. Les travailleurs étrangers temporaires admis sous permis de travail CIC « ouverts » ou « semi-ouverts » se voient reconnaître le droit à la mobilité totale ou sectorielle sur l'ensemble du marché du travail canadien. Au contraire, les travailleurs étrangers temporaires admis à travers le cadre RHDCS-CIC (communément nommé Programme des travailleurs étrangers temporaires ou PTET) se verront encore aujourd'hui émettre des permis « hyperrestrictifs » ou « restrictifs » et ainsi retirer le droit à la liberté professionnelle/résidentielle/familiale au Canada : interdiction de changer d'employeur, obligation de dormir chez son employeur, interdiction de tenter l'intégration permanente, interdiction de vivre en famille

Enhancing the Representation of Women: How Gender Diversity Signals and Acknowledgement Affect Attraction to Men-Dominated Professions

While organizations around the world recognize the importance of gender diversity and inclusion, many struggle to reach gender parity (Sneader & Yee, 2020). Particularly, women account for less than 15% of all sworn police officers (Donohue Jr, 2020). Considering signaling theory and novel research in organizational impression management, we examined the utility of various recruitment messaging techniques for attracting women job seekers to professions dominated by men, at both a consulting firm and law enforcement agency. Women evaluating consulting firm materials perceived greater behavioral integrity and were subsequently more attracted to the organization if recruitment messages included both high gender diversity signals and an explicit acknowledgement of the lack of gender diversity. With the law enforcement agency, a direct effect of the proposed interaction was identified, in that women were more attracted to police recruitment materials signaling gender diversity and explicitly acknowledging the lack of gender diversity within the agency. Materials had no adverse effect on men’s attraction. Last, research questions surrounding person-organization fit and risk propensity were analyzed to further explore the acknowledgement tactic

Acute effects of nicotine on visual search tasks in young adult smokers

Rationale Nicotine is known to improve performance on tests involving sustained attention and recent research suggests that nicotine may also improve performance on tests involving the strategic allocation of attention and working memory. Objectives We used measures of accuracy and response latency combined with eye-tracking techniques to examine the effects of nicotine on visual search tasks. Methods In experiment 1 smokers and non-smokers performed pop-out and serial search tasks. In experiment 2, we used a within-subject design and a more demanding search task for multiple targets. In both studies, 2-h abstinent smokers were asked to smoke one of their own cigarettes between baseline and tests. Results In experiment 1, pop-out search times were faster after nicotine, without a loss in accuracy. Similar effects were observed for serial searches, but these were significant only at a trend level. In experiment 2, nicotine facilitated a strategic change in eye movements resulting in a higher proportion of fixations on target letters. If the cigarette was smoked on the first trial (when the task was novel), nicotine additionally reduced the total number of fixations and refixations on all letters in the display. Conclusions Nicotine improves visual search performance by speeding up search time and enabling a better focus of attention on task relevant items. This appears to reflect more efficient inhibition of eye movements towards task irrelevant stimuli, and better active maintenance of task goals. When the task is novel, and therefore more difficult, nicotine lessens the need to refixate previously seen letters, suggesting an improvement in working memory

The antisaccade task as an index of sustained goal activation in working memory: modulation by nicotine

The antisaccade task provides a laboratory analogue of situations in which execution of the correct behavioural response requires the suppression of a more prepotent or habitual response. Errors (failures to inhibit a reflexive prosaccade towards a sudden onset target) are significantly increased in patients with damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and patients with schizophrenia. Recent models of antisaccade performance suggest that errors are more likely to occur when the intention to initiate an antisaccade is insufficiently activated within working memory. Nicotine has been shown to enhance specific working memory processes in healthy adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explored the effect of nicotine on antisaccade performance in a large sample (N = 44) of young adult smokers. Minimally abstinent participants attended two test sessions and were asked to smoke one of their own cigarettes between baseline and retest during one session only. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Nicotine reduced antisaccade errors and correct antisaccade latencies if delivered before optimum performance levels are achieved, suggesting that nicotine supports the activation of intentions in working memory during task performance. The implications of this research for current theoretical accounts of antisaccade performance, and for interpreting the increased rate of antisaccade errors found in some psychiatric patient groups are discussed