Exploring informal caregivers' health needs from a capability perspective : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Despite more than forty years of informal caregiving research, the health needs of informal caregivers continue to generate considerable scrutiny. Most commonly, caregiving is portrayed as burdensome and a health risk, although positive and ambivalent experiences have been reported. This study uses the Capability Approach (CA; e.g. Nussbaum, 2000; Sen, 1980) as a theoretical framework to add another perspective to the existing literature regarding informal care provision for older people. Participatory principles informed the research, insofar as the participants were accorded flexibility, control, and helped to co-analyse some of the data. Undertaken in New Zealand, the research comprised two studies. In Study One, 60 caregivers anonymously participated in an online research forum, in an evolving joint discussion of their health needs. Template analysis (King, 2012) of the forum postings, based on Nussbaum’s (2007) capabilities list, highlighted the relational nature of caregiving and the importance of emotions to the caregiving role. Emotional attachment influenced the caregivers’ freedom to choose how they lived their lives, and emotions in general were implicated in the complexities and tensions associated with the caregiving process. An important finding was the self-abnegation of the caregivers who neglected self-care in order to provide care for another. These results led to a second, prospective study that explored in more depth the role of emotions in the everyday lives of caregivers. Six informal caregivers participated in Study Two which involved up to six successive interviews with each participant. Four of the participants kept a solicited diary, which informed the subsequent interviews. Narratives from the second study provided more nuanced data that affirmed the first study’s findings, and contributed to the overall finding that an ethic of care underpins the provision of informal care for older people. The participants valued having the capability to care, evidenced by their emotional attachment, attentiveness and commitment to providing competent care. The participants approach to self-care and their own wellbeing was inseparable from the wellbeing of the person being cared-for. These findings have important implications for social policy aimed at improving the experience of providing informal care for older people

Global Production Networks and the Changing Geography of Innovation Systems: Implications for Developing Countries

The paper addresses disruptive changes that globalization imposes on the geography of innovation systems, and identifies potential benefits that developing countries could reap from international linkages. The analysis is centered on three propositions. First, developing countries nee to blend diverse international and domestic sources of knowledge to compensate for initially weak national production and innovation systems. Second, a greater variety of international knowledge linkages are possible, as globalization reduces the spatial stickiness of innovation: the spread of global production networks (GPN) combines concentrated dispersion with systemic integration, creating new opportunities for international diffusion. We argue that GPN provide firms and industrial districts in developing countries with new opportunities for reverse knowledge outsourcing. We explore resultant challenges that define the need for public policy response, define the new agenda for industrial upgrading, and discuss what types of policies and support institutions may help to reap the benefits from network participation.

To Each According to their Needs: Anarchist Praxis as a Resource for Byzantine Theological Ethics

I argue that anarchist ideas for organising human communities could be a useful practical resource for Christian ethics. I demonstrate this firstly by introducing the main theological ideas underlying Maximus the Confessor’s ethics, a theologian respected and important in a number of Christian denominations. I compare practical similarities in the way in which ‘love’ and ‘well-being’ are interpreted as the telos of Maximus and Peter Kropotkin’s ethics respectively. I further highlight these similarities by demonstrating them in action when it comes attitudes towards property. I consequently suggest that there are enough similarities in practical aims, for Kropotkin’s ideas for human organising to be useful to Christian ethicists

Shared Responsibilities for Nuclear Disarmament: A Global Debate

Presents Sagan's 2009 paper calling for rethinking the balance of responsibilities and the relationship between articles in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty with seven response papers by international scholars about how to pursue nuclear disarmament

Institutions, Social Norms and Well-being

This paper discusses the intrinsic and instrumental value of governance and social norms to the well being of New Zealanders. The interaction between informal social norms and formal institutions is also discussed. An attempt is made to identify the channels and precise mechanisms through which governance and social norms respectively may impact on well-being. Empirical evidence on these effects is cited, and the relevance of the evidence to New Zealand is assessed. A range of suggestions is then presented for strengthening the governance of public institutions in New Zealand, focusing on improvements to transparency, accountability and integrity within existing constitutional arrangements. Finally, some tentative remarks are made on the potential role of government in influencing the evolution of social norms, and managing tensions between conflicting norms in New Zealand.Norms; governance; well-being; public institutions; transparency

The role of artificial intelligence, knowledge and wisdom in automatic image understanding

In the paper, the roles of intelligence, knowledge, learning and wisdom are discussed in the context of image content understanding. The known model of automatic image understanding is extended by the role of learning. References to example implementations are also given

Factors shaping the evolution of electronic documentation systems

The main goal is to prepare the space station technical and managerial structure for likely changes in the creation, capture, transfer, and utilization of knowledge. By anticipating advances, the design of Space Station Project (SSP) information systems can be tailored to facilitate a progression of increasingly sophisticated strategies as the space station evolves. Future generations of advanced information systems will use increases in power to deliver environmentally meaningful, contextually targeted, interconnected data (knowledge). The concept of a Knowledge Base Management System is emerging when the problem is focused on how information systems can perform such a conversion of raw data. Such a system would include traditional management functions for large space databases. Added artificial intelligence features might encompass co-existing knowledge representation schemes; effective control structures for deductive, plausible, and inductive reasoning; means for knowledge acquisition, refinement, and validation; explanation facilities; and dynamic human intervention. The major areas covered include: alternative knowledge representation approaches; advanced user interface capabilities; computer-supported cooperative work; the evolution of information system hardware; standardization, compatibility, and connectivity; and organizational impacts of information intensive environments

The Police-ization of the Military

This essay will briefly review the background of the use of the armed forces in a police capacity, discuss the growth of that role in the I980s and 1990s, and forecast an even greater expansion into that role in the near future due to the emerging threat of catastrophic terrorism. It will contend that this increased reliance on military resources for policing is not in the interest of either the armed forces or the public. Finally, it will make some observations with a view towards minimizing the dangers of police-ization of the military while ensuring the Nation\u27s public safety