This qualitative field study is conducted on the Andaman Islands in India and focuses on the sustainable destination development and SCUBA diving tourism. The island in focus, Havelock, is an emerging tourist destination and an international airport is scheduled to open in the Andamans in 2021. The topic is approached through observation and interviews with people involved with the SCUBA diving industry, selected informants, and diving tourists. Different scales that operate with the island’s development - global, national, regional and local - are investigated. Global warming poses a threat to the coral reefs that is the main resource for tourism at the location and the longterm residents’ education in the subject is absent. The communication between state and nation is a problem as laws are passed without participation or awareness from the local community which makes it difficult for businessowners to invest. Furthermore, diver motivation and satisfaction are investigated. The main motivation of beginner level diving tourists from India are not educated in how the underwater world looks like, but are motivated to see what they already know through movies like “Finding Nemo”. The study reveals that a degraded coral reef does not affect diver satisfaction where the divers are not educated in how a healthy reef looks like. The local Marine Protected Area - Rani Jhansi Marine National Park - is in 2019 funded by the government and there are currently no entrance fees for diving tourists. However, this has been proved successful in other destinations. The Marine Protected Area is perceived as positive by the local SCUBA industry, but it is not interacting with its regulation and governing.

"As water covers over 75% surface area of the earth, humans have an innate desire to explore the underwater environment for various aims. Physiological responses are induced in humans and animals to adapt to different stresses imposed by the hyperbaric environment. When these stresses become overwhelming, certain hazards can occur to individuals in underwater or in similar hyperbaric environments, and they may include nitrogen narcosis, oxygen toxicity and decompression sickness (DCS). There are evidences showing that the autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays an important role in diving reflex and physiological responses to diving hazards. However, the assessment of the autonomic nervous activity during SCUBA dives and diving-related hazards are mostly absent from the literature. Thus, in order to evaluate the autonomic nervous alterations that may occur during diving, especially during DCS, the following three experiments were performed in this study: the simulated dives of human subjects in a hyperbaric chamber, the SCUBA diving performed in seawater and induced decompression sickness in a swine model. A novel algorithm developed in our lab, principal dynamic mode (PDM) analysis, is applied to the above data. It has been shown that the PDM is able to accurately separate the sympathetic and parasympathetic dynamics of the ANS, and subsequently it is able to obtain a better quantification of the autonomic nervous activity than a current golden-standard approach. Through the study, dominance of the parasympathetic modulation was found in both hyperbaric chamber and SCUBA diving conditions. And more stresses were present in real dives, compared to simulated dives in chamber. In the swine DCS model, we found neurological DCS and cardiopulmonary DCS resulted in different alterations in the ANS. Furthermore, tracking dynamics of the parasympathetic modulations via the PDM method may allow discrimination between cardiopulmonary DCS and neurological DCS, and has potential use as a marker for early diagnosis of cardiopulmonary DCS. "

This thesis explores the role of comfort in adventure leisure and in recreational SCUBA diving in particular. In this chapter the study’s central elements of comfort, constraints and negotiation will be introduced. Human engagement with marine locations provides background to the evolution of SCUBA diving as a leisure activity. The concept of comfort is then introduced, with attention given to what comfort means from a range of disciplines. Following this, the use of the term comfort in adventure, leisure and tourism research is reviewed. Divers’ constraints to comfort are also briefly examined here in this introduction, to build understanding of how comfort can be experienced during adventure, and SCUBA diving. Leisure constraints-negotiation research is discussed briefly and linked to SCUBA diving experiences. The objectives of this study are then presented prior to introducing the qualitative research paradigm that guides the research, and the thesis outline.

Adventure tourism is a growing market sector worldwide including Australia. A range of research exists that examined participation in adventure tourism activities by consideration of various aspects such as socio-demographics, motivations, activity/setting preferences and involvement in the activity to understand the adventure tourist. While studies have been conducted that included several of these aspects, a holistic investigation of involvement, motivations and setting preferences together has not been conducted previously regarding adventure tourism in Australia in general and SCUBA diving in particular. Furthermore, in Australia, only limited information is available about those who participate in the adventure activity of SCUBA diving. The aim of this research is to investigate differences and similarities of involvement, motivations and setting preferences of SCUBA diving club members in Eastern Australia. In this study 294 SCUBA diving club members in New South Wales and Queensland were surveyed by utilisation of a web-based questionnaire in order to identify their involvement in SCUBA diving, socio-demographic characteristics, participation motives and setting preferences. Descriptive analysis was used to investigate the socio-demographic characteristics of divers, their motivations and setting preferences. Principal component analysis was applied on involvement variables as well as motivations to investigate the underlying constructs. Agglomerative and hierarchical cluster analyses were used to derive clusters of divers that differed in their involvement in SCUBA diving. Exact Pearson chi-square tests were conducted to test whether there were significant differences concerning sociodemographics between clusters. In addition, analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to determine differences and similarities of motivational components and setting preferences between clusters. This study found that SCUBA diving club members are a heterogeneous group regarding their involvement in SCUBA diving. Five clusters of divers emerged that differed in their involvement in SCUBA diving. While differences in socio-demographics across the different involvement clusters were revealed, they proved to be less valuable for interpretation purposes. Regarding divers� setting preferences, similar structures were observed across all clusters regardless of differences in involvement. Motivations showed a complex structure across the clusters in regard to divers� involvement in SCUBA diving. Based on the studies findings, recommendations for future research were suggested. These emphasised the need for a holistic examination of motivations and setting preferences of adventure tourists based on the concept of involvement, which would be important for theory development and segmentation of tourists. The same holistic approach would also be valuable for examining other types of tourists such as events tourists and heritage tourists to better understand tourist behaviour.

The present series of unmanned hyperbaric tests were conducted in order to investigate the oxygen fraction variability in semi-closed underwater rebreathing apparatuses. The tested rebreathers were RB80 (Halcyon dive systems, High springs, FL, USA), IS-Mix (Interspiro AB, Stockholm, Sweden), CRABE (Aqua Lung, Carros Cedex, France), and Viper+ (Cobham plc, Davenport, IA, USA). The tests were conducted using a catalytically based propene combusting metabolic simulator. The metabolic simulator connected to a breathing simulator, both placed inside a hyperbaric pressure chamber, was first tested to demonstrate its usefulness to simulate human respiration in a hyperbaric situation. Following this the metabolic simulator was shown to be a useful tool in accident investigations as well as to assess the impact of different engineering designs and physiological variables on the oxygen content in the gas delivered to the diver by the rebreathing apparatuses. A multi-compartment model of the oxygen fractions was developed and compared to the previously published single-compartment models. The root mean squared error (RMSE) of the multi-compartment model was smaller than the RMSE for the single-compartment model, showing its usefulness to estimate the impact of different designs and physiological variables on the inspired oxygen fraction. / <p>QC 20150903</p>

Over the past two decades, developing countries have recognized the economic value of attractive marine resources and the need to actively protect these resources. Many of these conservation projects rely on limiting extractive activities to protect habitats, which restricts local livelihoods, and promoting marine resource-based tourism to provide financing for conservation. Using a political ecology framework, this dissertation investigates two connected aspects of tourism and conservation: tourists' seafood consumption and the Go Blue Central America, a geotourism project initiated by National Geographic. It also explains the value of considering the local environmental knowledge of a diverse group of resource users, with a specific focus on professional scuba divers. Given the importance of scuba diving as an activity and tourism attractor on Utila, professional scuba divers on the island are well-positioned to serve as a source of environmental knowledge data on Utila's dive sites, including on their condition, species sightings, and changes over time. This knowledge is not without its problems as it may lead to conceptions of local participation that fail to include those actually from the community of concern. Thus, this dissertation calls attention to the possibilities of using divers' environmental knowledge in conservation and environmental management while also remaining attuned to the potential complications that may arise from doing so. Ultimately, this dissertation calls for the development of additional tourism alternatives and more comprehensive tourism planning and management which includes the potential for damage done by nonextractive resource users. For Utila, this will entail altering existing business practices to increase local ownership, shifting away from backpacker and budget oriented tourism toward a more expensive product, and involving more of the local community in the decision-making processes which affect tourism and the environment.

ABSTRACT EFFECTS OF SCUBA DIVING ON MIDDLE EAR PRESSURE &Ouml / zyurt, Deniz MS. Department of Physical Education and Sports Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Feza Korkusuz Co-Supervisor: Dr. Mehmet &Ouml / zekmek&ccedil / i April 2006, 42 pages Since / the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba) was developed / the growth in the recreational diving population leaded an increase in diving-related injuries, mostly about the ear barotraumas. Previous findings show that inexperienced divers are more predisposed to ear barotraumas. This study was performed to see the dive related alterations of the middle ear pressure and the compliance of the tympanic membrane due to experience (experienced - skin divers and/or underwater rugby players and inexperienced -not use to skin diving or such water sports) and depth (3m and 12m) in 22 novice divers with normal pre-dive audiometry, tympanometry, and otorhinolaryngologic examination. Pre dive otologic inspections were taken and pre dive / post dive tympanograms were measured for each depth. In 8 ears of the 5 inexperienced divers either hyperemia or hemotympany were observed in the second day&amp / #8217 / s (12m) otoscopic inspections. In the first post dive tympanometric measurements / middle ear pressure changes were observed in 19 ears of 14 divers. The compliance was not changed in 5 ears of 3 divers and increased in the reminder. In the second tympanometric measurements, 12 ears of the 8 divers showed negative middle ear pressure and compliance was not changed in 10 ears of 5 divers and increased in the reminder. Due to experience and middle ear pressure changes of each day / no meaningful, statistically significant correlation was found. Also no meaningful correlations were found neither for experience and compliance. A correlation of .542 between experience status and otologic inspection prior to 12m depth dives was a contradiction to the hypothesis there would not be any significant difference between experienced and well trained inexperienced groups as the otologic variations such as hyperemia or hemotympany were only seen in inexperienced novices. Again / the correlation of .571 showed that 3m depth dives had grater frequency of middle ear pressure changes than 12m depth dives. Similarly / due to the compliance correlation of .516, 3m depth dives had a grater frequency of compliance increases than 12m depth dives. These results however should be reconsidered as the 3m depth was the first open water dive day and 12m depth was the next day which the novices could use to the open water conditions.

This thesis explores the role of comfort in adventure leisure and in recreational SCUBA diving in particular. In this chapter the study’s central elements of comfort, constraints and negotiation will be introduced. Human engagement with marine locations provides background to the evolution of SCUBA diving as a leisure activity. The concept of comfort is then introduced, with attention given to what comfort means from a range of disciplines. Following this, the use of the term comfort in adventure, leisure and tourism research is reviewed. Divers’ constraints to comfort are also briefly examined here in this introduction, to build understanding of how comfort can be experienced during adventure, and SCUBA diving. Leisure constraints-negotiation research is discussed briefly and linked to SCUBA diving experiences. The objectives of this study are then presented prior to introducing the qualitative research paradigm that guides the research, and the thesis outline.

This thesis explores the role of comfort in adventure leisure and in recreational SCUBA diving in particular. In this chapter the study’s central elements of comfort, constraints and negotiation will be introduced. Human engagement with marine locations provides background to the evolution of SCUBA diving as a leisure activity. The concept of comfort is then introduced, with attention given to what comfort means from a range of disciplines. Following this, the use of the term comfort in adventure, leisure and tourism research is reviewed. Divers’ constraints to comfort are also briefly examined here in this introduction, to build understanding of how comfort can be experienced during adventure, and SCUBA diving. Leisure constraints-negotiation research is discussed briefly and linked to SCUBA diving experiences. The objectives of this study are then presented prior to introducing the qualitative research paradigm that guides the research, and the thesis outline.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2011. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-95). Also available on the World Wide Web.