The low-lying topographic nature of salt marshes makes plants in these communities particularly vulnerable to increased salinity and inundation exposure associated with sea level rise. Both increased salinity and inundation have been cited as major causes of reduced plant performance and survival in marsh and areas fringing marsh. In addition to limitations imposed by physical stress, interspecific interactions have also been shown to mediate the performance and survival of salt marsh and salt marsh fringing species. The Stress Gradient Hypothesis (SGH) postulates that species interactions shift from competitive to facilitative as stress levels increase and predicts that (a) the frequency and intensity of facilitative interactions increase as conditions become more stressful for plants and (b) the strength of competitive interactions increases as abiotic stress levels diminish. The SGH has been rigorously tested to examine how both the frequency and intensity of species interactions change under varying physical stress levels. Studies conducted in salt marsh systems have shown facilitation to be as strong of a driving force as competition in influencing plant performance and survival and have shown that while competition appears to be the pervasive force in the less physically stressful terrestrial zones fringing salt marshes, facilitation influences the performance and survival of species in harsher marsh areas. Under conditions of sea level rise, it remains unclear if the nature of interspecific interactions would shift as stress levels change. This research endeavors to examine the interplay between abiotic stresses and biotic interactions under conditions of increased salinity and inundation exposure. The first study presented here investigated the effects of increased inundation and soil salinity associated with sea level rise on four salt marsh fringing species, and assesses how competition and facilitation impact survival of salt marsh fringing plant survival under these changing conditions. All plant species experienced reduced growth and photosynthetic inhibition below their current distributional positions, both in the presence and absence of neighboring above ground vegetation. The findings also signal a potential shift in the nature of interspecific interactions from competition to facilitation to neutral as plants begin to experience increased salt and inundation exposure. The second study aimed to disentangle the effects of increased soil salinity and increased soil moisture on four salt marsh fringing species, and to examine the effects of plant neighbors. The results showed that fringe plants exposed to increased inundation experienced a two-fold reduction in performance and survival over 750 g pure salt addition, suggesting that inundation may be a more important limiting factor than salinity with rising sea levels. Landward transplants at the forest-fringe margin exposed to lower soil salinity and decreased inundation exhibited a three-fold increase in performance and survival when compared to controls. Neighbor manipulation studies, which consisted of trimming neighboring vegetation to ground level, again suggested that interspecific interactions in salt marsh fringing species may shift from competitive to facilitative with climate-induced sea level rise. Overall, our findings suggest that salt marsh fringing species may not be able to tolerate changing conditions associated with sea level rise and their survival may hinge on their ability to migrate towards higher elevations. The final experiment tested the Stress Gradient Hypothesis and investigated the relative importance of facilitation and competition in a salt marsh system under varying stress levels. This study also ascertained whether salt or inundation exposure is the primary influence on salt marsh plant performance and survival. As in previous studies, our findings suggest that many salt marsh plants don't require, but merely tolerate harsher abiotic conditions. The results showed that plants at higher elevations were depressed by strong competitive pressure from neighboring fringe species while plants at lower elevations benefited from the presence of neighbors. Collectively, the results of these studies indicate that species interactions are an integral driver of plant distribution in salt marsh communities. Furthermore, our findings indicate that changing stress levels may not always result in a shift in the nature of interspecific interactions. These studies have endeavored to show that the interplay between competition and facilitation interacts with physical processes to determine the growth and performance of both fringe and marsh plant species. The paucity of studies examining the roles of species interactions and changing abiotic stress levels on multiple salt marsh and salt marsh fringing species warrants the need for additional research. The responses of salt marsh and salt marsh fringing species to sea level rise can not only serve as very valuable and sensitive indictors of climate change, but will also aid in predicting the future location of the marsh-fringe-forest ecotone, which is predicted to shift inland as sea levels continue to rise.

This is an exploration of process-oriented dialogue and how it is applied in group work and conflict facilitation. It encompasses a range of group-work applications, beginning with an investigation of useful approaches in bringing opposing parties together in dialogue situations. From there it unfolds the ways in which dialogue, in the midst of conflict, contributes to greater understanding of others' positions, and the creation of community spirit. A number of dynamics inherent in conflicting situations are explored, including the belief systems and dynamics present which deter parties from coming together to dialogue after conflict, whether interventions can help shift the attitudes of conflicting parties, whether discussion of the conflict can be useful, and the role of the facilitator. Models of conflict resolution, community building, and dialogue are introduced, and the Process Work model of group work is explored. Various case studies are described, along with surveys from two groups. The findings are analysed in the light of different paradigms and the application of process-oriented ideologies and methods and their effectiveness are critiqued / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study adds to the limited empirical research evidence about the use of group facilitation in organisations. It analyses data collected from managers and facilitators to identify the critical contingency factors that influence the use of group facilitation. The data was analysed using an iterative process of grounded content analysis. The findings identify four primary contingency factors that influence the use of group facilitation. Chief among these is the 'outcomes-oriented' worldview that characterises the theories-in-use of both managers and facilitators. Group facilitation is used when managers perceive that it is likely to be an appropriate intervention which will enable the achievement of certain desired organisational goals. A parallel finding is that the relationship between managers and external facilitators is frequently 'instrumental' in nature. These findings have significant implications for both the theory and practice of group facilitation, especially concerning the field's dominant view of facilitation as a 'neutral' intervention. It extends the perspective proffered by a minority of scholars and writers in this field. The other primary contingency factors identified in this study include the complexity of the group's task; the need to challenge or otherwise alter the way a group is thinking in relation to its task; and the need to have open discussions about issues pertaining to the work or life of the group when the expertise to enable such discussions is not otherwise available. In addition to the implications regarding the neutrality of facilitation, the findings of this study have implications for the management of groups within organisations. Facilitation is demonstrably a useful means of building trust and enhancing relationships in numerous situations. It is also clearly perceived to be an appropriate means of enabling groups to structure and manage complex tasks. This includes tasks that are both objectively complex in nature, and those that group members subjectively experience as complex tasks. Given the increasing complexity of business environments, the complexity of many group tasks, and the increasing propensity for organisations to utilise teams and groups to get work done, facilitation is emerging as an important means of assisting organisational effectiveness.

Kwongan, also known as sandplain heathland, occurs in remnant vegetation throughout the fragmented landscape of the Western Australian wheatbelt. This vegetation community has high levels of species richness and endemism, and is of high conservation value. In many vegetation remnants in the wheatbelt the native tree species Allocasuarina huegeliana (rock sheoak) is expanding out from its normal range and encroaching into kwongan. A. huegeliana may ultimately dominate the kwongan, causing a decline in floristic diversity. Altered disturbance regimes, particularly the absence of fire and reduced or absent browsing mammal herbivores, are likely to be responsible for causing A. huegeliana encroachment. This study used experimental and observational data from patches of kwongan in three Nature Reserves in the central and southern wheatbelt to investigate the role of fire, native mammal activities and interactions between these two factors in shaping A. huegeliana woodland–kwongan community boundaries. Investigations were carried out into the characteristics of encroaching A. huegeliana populations; the environmental factors affecting the extent of encroachment, naturally recruited juveniles, and seedling emergence and establishment; historical and current abundances of native mammals; and the effects of mammal herbivores on seedling establishment during inter-fire and post-fire periods. Results from this study confirm that A. huegeliana has encroached into kwongan throughout the wheatbelt region and recruitment appears likely to continue in most areas. Few of the environmental factors measured in this study affected the extent of encroachment, the locations of naturally recruited A. huegeliana juveniles, and seedling germination and establishment. Western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) browsed extensively on seedlings, which largely prevented them from establishing in open areas of kwongan. However, numerous A. huegeliana seedlings escaped browsing herbivores by establishing in perennial shrubs, where they appeared to be tolerant of increased levels of inter-specific competition. There was no native mammal common to all three Reserves that declined around the time that A. huegeliana encroachment most likely began in the 1970s. In addition, tammar wallabies (Macropus eugenii) had little effect even where their densities were high. It is therefore unlikely that the decline of an individual mammal species initiated encroachment. A. huegeliana encroachment appears to be driven by increased propagule pressure, which is in turn caused by increased inter-fire intervals. Long periods of time without fire have enabled fire-sensitive A. huegeliana trees to produce increasing quantities of seed that are continuously released into kwongan. A range of other factors may interact synergistically with this process to affect encroachment and these are also discussed. This study considered the implications of these findings for management of remnant vegetation in fragmented landscapes, particularly kwongan in the Western Australian wheatbelt, and areas for further research are suggested.

Les systèmes de cultures sous couvert végétal permanent associé à une culture commerciale ont la réputation d'être susceptibles d'assurer certains services écologiques et agronomiques : étouffement des adventices, mais aussi protection du sol, augmentation de la biodiversité, de l'activité biologique et du taux de matière organique des sols, diminution de l'érosion. Si ces systèmes se sont bien développés en climat tropical, ils restent toutefois presque inexistants en climat tempéré. L'objectif de cette étude est d'évaluer, par modélisation et expérimentation, les différentes interactions qui existent entre une culture de blé et une plante de couverture (fétuque rouge (Festuca rubra L.) ou luzerne (Medicago sativa L.)) cultivées simultanément pour les différentes ressources du milieu (lumière, eau et azote) dans les conditions de climat tempéré. La période considérée comprend la période culturale (association) et la période d'interculture (couvert maintenu vivant après la récolte du blé). Les résultats de modélisation et d'expérimentation montrent que l'introduction d'une plante de couverture en association avec un blé et son maintien en vie en période d'interculture peuvent améliorer les performances environnementales du système en favorisant certains processus biotiques comme par exemple la production de biomasse primaire, l'interception de rayonnement (qui agit directement sur le développement des adventices en réduisant la ressource en lumière arrivant au niveau du sol), et la réduction du stock d'azote susceptible d'être lessivé. Ces effets positifs sont observés en partie en période culturale mais surtout en période d'interculture

Facilitative interactions can have a powerful influence on the structure of plant communities and must be accounted for in efforts to restore disturbed and invaded habitats, such as the now rare coastal sage scrub (CSS) of California. In this study, I tested for evidence of facilitative effects by the native shrubs Eriogonum fasciculatum var. foliolosum and Artemisia californica on germination and survival of the CSS native annual forb Phacelia distans. P. distans seeds were planted near patches of native shrubs, both under the shrub canopy where any facilitative effects should be strongest, and 0.5 m away in the more exposed grassland. To determine whether the shrub-forb relationship was affected by the presence of invasive annuals, E. fasciculatum sites were assigned either invasive annual removal or non-removal control treatment; no removal treatments were carried out for A. californica. P. distans had significantly higher germination but lower survivorship under the canopy of E. fasciculatum. The results showed no overall effect of invasive removal, but there was a weak interaction effect with location; in shrub-canopy plots, invasive species further lowered survivorship. A. californica showed neither facilitative nor negative effects of this shrub species on either germination or survivorship of P. distans, in contrast with the results for E. fasciculatum. Although E. fasciculatum appears to facilitate the germination of native forbs under its canopy, it also seems to have a negative effect on survival. The weak interaction between location and removal to further decrease survival under the canopy when invasives are present, and the abundance of grasses growing under the canopy, suggest that native shrubs may facilitate the growth of invasive annuals as well as the germination of natives. Consequently, controlling invasive grass abundance may be necessary to capture the benefits of shrub facilitation for the restoration of native CSS herbs.

Previous research has indicated that exercising with other people improves interest and engagement in physical activity (e.g., Christensen, Schmidt, Budtz-Jorgensen, & Avlund, 2006; Estabrooks & Carron, 1999). However, the degree of socializing with other people engaged in by exercisers has not been manipulated in previous studies. In the present study, the amount of socializing during exercise was manipulated in order to evaluate the effect of social connection on motivation to exercise. Two perspectives on the role of socializing in exercising were considered and discussed – Social Facilitation (Zajonc, 1965) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000). In order to test the importance of social contact during exercise, previously inactive women between the ages of 18-30 were randomly assigned to exercise for 12 sessions in one of three conditions. In the “social partner condition”, two participants exercised together and also discussed personal topics. In the “non-social partner condition”, two participants exercised together, but did not discuss personal topics. Lastly, in the “exercise alone condition”, participants exercised alone. In general, it was hypothesized that the social partner condition would lead to the greatest improvements in satisfaction of the psychological need for relatedness, subjective vitality, motivation to exercise, amount of physical activity, fitness level, affect, interest, and effort in exercise. Non-social partners were expected to experience some benefits from exercising with a partner, but not to the same extent as those in the social partner condition. Participants who exercised alone were expected to experience the fewest improvements. The partner relationships were also examined more closely, with the expectation that pairings that were more interpersonally complementary (that is, more similar on affiliation, and reciprocal on dominance) would positively affect outcomes. Further, partners were expected to become more similar in their exercise behaviour and motivation due to their repeated interactions over the course of the study. A one-month follow-up session assessed whether motivation and exercise behaviour observed at the end of the study changed or were sustained over time. The hypotheses were partially supported. Overall, exercise contributed to improved vitality, fitness, and affect, with few differences amongst the conditions. Participants in both partner conditions reported greater relatedness, or social connection, after a month of exercising together, than the exercise alone condition participants. Some interesting motivational patterns emerged at the end of the study and at a one-month follow-up, with some indication that the social partner condition most greatly benefited motivation. Interpersonal complementarity positively impacted competence, relatedness, and fitness, but surprisingly had a negative impact on vitality. Partners did not become more similar to one another over the course of the study, suggesting a lack of mutual influence. The findings are discussed within the context of Self-Determination Theory and Social Facilitation. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature that indicates that the social aspects of physical activity are essential for physical and mental wellbeing. Further research is required to evaluate how social factors can be utilized to promote greater enjoyment of and adherence to physical activity.

Examination of the underlying principles of creativity reveal theoretical aspects that have not been well explored in creativity facilitation software. Most significantly of these, there has been little investigation into exploiting the distinctions between early- and late-stage creative processes and the attendant differences in cognitive processing active at those times, nor into employing the structural scaffolding embedded within creative works and the manner in which these can be extracted and harnessed to define levels of abstraction through which the material can be viewed and manipulated. The Wheelsong project was conceived to exploit these principles, in the service of devising more creatively facilitative music composition tools, by focusing on these earlier, exploratory stages of the creative process, and by privileging structure over minutiae, in alignment with the mode of cognition (and corresponding user needs) that dominate the exploratory phase. Explorations conducted with Wheelsong demonstrate that the platform embraces broad stylistic and cultural ranges of output. Experiments comparing the creative merits of early-stage, fragmentary outputs produced by Wheelsong against those produced by traditional representation schemes show a substantial improvement in both subjective quality and diversity indicators adhering to the structurally produced candidates, as measured by human judges.

Background: It is required that health care professionals continuously work with patient safety and quality improvements, and the skills of registered nurses are significant in this work. However, quality improvement also requires commitment and knowledge about how to improve health care and ensure patient safety. There is a lack of studies that highlights the importance of supportive functions for this work. Nurses in clinical settings can be utilized as facilitators that make things easier for other health care professionals who are engaged in quality improvement and patient safety. In order to gain understanding about the significance and needs of nurses with a role of facilitator, it is urgent to learn from their experiences of facilitating quality improvement in health care. Aim: The aim was to study nurses’ experiences of facilitating quality improvement of nursing care, patient safety and multi-professional collaboration in health care. Method: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were performed with ten registered nurses who had experience of being in the role of facilitators. The interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Findings: In the findings, three main categories (with  a number of subcategories) were identified; raises interest for improvement, leads systematic improvement and facilitates cross-professional collaboration. The underlying meaning of these categories was explored and interpreted into three themes: encouraging others to act rather than doing for others, balancing between following and leading, and being close to reducing the fear of change. Discussion: The interviewed nurses often tended to facilitate multi-professional patient safety work with a focus on checklists, the introduction of procedures for risk assessment and monitoring of adherence to various health and safety regulations. The nurses tended less often to facilitate improvements with a focus on patient and nursing care. Facilitators can make great contributions to the clinical quality improvement work by promote for the teams to reflect on nursing content and quality, and to encourage others to act rather than do for others. Future studies about how appropriate support and enablement from the facilitators can be drafted, and how the actual process of nursing care improvement is done, are suggested. / Bakgrund: Det ställs krav på att vårdens personal fortlöpande ska verka för en god och säker vård och sjuksköterskans kompetens innebär en avgörande skillnad i detta arbete. Förbättringsarbete kräver engagemang och kunskap och för en sjuksköterska räcker det troligen inte med den professionella omvårdnadskunskapen, utan denna måste kombineras med kunskaper om hur man gör för att utveckla och förbättra vårdens innehåll. Alltför få studier lyfter fram betydelsen av stödfunktioner som kan underlätta arbetet med förbättringar av omvårdnad och patientsäkerhet. Underlättare kan vara kliniskt verksamma sjuksköterskor med uppdrag att fungera som underlättare. Det är angeläget att öka kunskapen om vilka erfarenheter de har av att underlätta för andra i förbättringsarbete för att bidra till förståelsen av den betydelse som underlättande sjuksköterskor kan ha för förbättringsarbete. Syfte: Att studera sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att underlätta förbättringsarbete inom omvårdnad, patientsäkerhet och tvärprofessionellt samarbete. Metod: En kvalitativ ansats valdes med enskilda semistrukturerade intervjuer av tio legitimerade sjuksköterskor. För att analysera och tolka de utskrivna intervjuerna valdes kvalitativ innehållsanalys som ger möjlighet till tolkning av resultatet, på olika nivåer. Resultat: I resultatet identifierades tre kategorier (och ett antal subkategorier); väcker intresse för förbättringar, leder systematiskt förbättringsarbete och underlättar tvärprofessionellt samarbete. Den underliggandetenta meningen i dessa kategorier lyftes fram och tolkades i tre teman; uppmuntra andra att handla snarare än att göra åt andra, balansera mellan att följa och leda och vara nära för att minska rädsla för förändring. Diskussion: De intervjuade sjuksköterskorna underlättade oftast ett tvärprofessionellt patientsäkerhetsarbete med fokus på checklistor, införande av rutiner för riskbedömningar och uppföljning av följsamhet till olika hygien- och säkerhetsregler. Mer sällan underlättade sjuksköterskorna förbättringar med fokus på patienten och omvårdnaden. Underlättare kan göra stor skillnad i förbättringsarbete genom att främja teamets reflektion över omvårdnadens innehåll och kvalitet, och uppmuntra andra att handla snarare än att göra åt andra. Hur ett lämpligt stöd och möjliggörande från underlättare kan utformas liksom hur själva genomförandet av omvårdnadsförbättringar går till kan behöva undersökas i fler studier.

Researchers who study pointing facilitation have identified the ability to identify--during motion--the likely target of a user's pointing gesture, as a necessary precursor to pointing facilitation in modern computer interfaces. To address this need, we develop and analyze how an understanding of the underlying characteristics of motion can enhance our ability to predict the target or endpoint of a goal-directed movement in graphical user interfaces. Using established laws of motion and an analysis of users' kinematic profiles, we demonstrate that the initial 90% of motion is primarly balistic and submovements are limited to the last 10% of gesture movement. Through experimentation, we demonstrate that target constraint and the intended use of a target has either a minimal effect on the motion profile or affects the last 10% of motion. Therefore, we demonstrate that any technique that models the intial 90% of gesture motion will not be affected by target constraint or intended use. Given, these results, we develop a technique to model the initial ballistic motion to predict user endpoint by adopting principles from the minimum jerk principle. Based on this principle, we derive an equation to model the initial ballistic phase of movement in order to predict movement distance and direction. We demonstrate through experimentation that we can successfully model pointing motion to identify a region of likely targets on the computer display. Next, we characterize the effects of target size and target distance on prediction accuracy. We demonstrate that there exists a linear relationship between prediction accuracy and target distance and that this relationship can be leveraged to create a probabilistic model for each target on the computer display. We then demonstrate how these probabilities could be used to enable pointing facilitation in modern computer interfaces. Finally, we demonstrate that the results from our evaluation of our technique are supported by the current motor control literature. In addition, we show that our technique provides optimal accuracy for any optimal accuracy when prediction of motion endpoint is performed using only the ballistic components of motion and before 90% of motion distance.