Theory and practice in value management: a reply to Ellis et al (2005)

The constructivist model of 'soft' value management (VM) is contrasted with the VM discourse appropriated by cost consultants who operate from within UK quantity surveying (QS) practices. The enactment of VM by cost consultants is shaped by the institutional context within which they operate and is not necessarily representative of VM practice per se. Opportunities to perform VM during the formative stages of design are further constrained by the positivistic rhetoric that such practitioners use to conceptualize and promote their services. The complex interplay between VM theory and practice is highlighted and analysed from a non-deterministic perspective. Codified models of 'best practice' are seen to be socially constructed and legitimized through human interaction in the context of interorganizational networks. Published methodologies are seen to inform practice in only a loose and indirect manner, with extensive scope for localized improvization. New insights into the relationship between VM theory and practice are derived from the dramaturgical metaphor. The social reality of VM is seen to be constituted through scripts and performances, both of which are continuously contested across organizational arenas. It is concluded that VM defies universal definition and is conceptualized and enacted differently across different localized contexts.

Adapting to new challenges: extension theory and practice for the 21st century

Twenty first century challenges facing agriculture include climate change, threats to food security for a growing population and downward economic pressures on rural livelihoods. Addressing these challenges will require innovation in extension theory, policy and education, at a time when the dominance of the state in the provision of knowledge and information services to farmers and rural entrepreneurs continues to decline. This paper suggests that extension theory is catching up with and helping us to understand innovative extension practice, and therefore provides a platform for improving rural development policies and strategies. Innovation is now less likely to be spoken of as something to be passed on to farmers, than as a continuing process of creativity and adaptation that can be nurtured and sustained. Innovation systems and innovation platforms are concepts that recognise the multiple factors that lead to farmers’ developing, adapting and applying new ideas and the importance of linking all actors in the value chain to ensure producers can access appropriate information and advice for decision making at all stages in the production process. Concepts of social learning, group development and solidarity, social capital, collective action and empowerment all help to explain and therefore to apply more effectively group extension approaches in building confidence and sustaining innovation. A challenge facing educators is to ensure the curricula for aspiring extension professionals in our higher education institutions are regularly reviewed and keep up with current and future developments in theory, policy and practice.

Adopting a family approach to theory and practice: measuring distress in cancer patient-partner dyads with the distress thermometer

Objective: Significant others are central to patients' experience and management of their cancer illness. Building on our validation of the Distress Thermometer (DT) for family members, this investigation examines individual and collective distress in a sample of cancer patients and their matched partners, accounting for the aspects of gender and role. Method: Questionnaires including the DT were completed by a heterogeneous sample of 224 couples taking part in a multisite study. Results: Our investigation showed that male patients (34.2%), female patients (31.9%), and male partners (29.1%) exhibited very similar levels of distress, while female partners (50.5%) exhibited much higher levels of distress according to the DT. At the dyad level just over half the total sample contained at least one individual reporting significant levels of distress. Among dyads with at least one distressed person, the proportion of dyads where both individuals reported distress was greatest (23.6%). Gender and role analyses revealed that males and females were not equally distributed among the four categories of dyads (i.e. dyads with no distress; dyads where solely the patient or dyads where solely the partner is distressed; dyads where both are distressed). Conclusion: A remarkable number of dyads reported distress in one or both partners. Diverse patterns of distress within dyads suggest varying risks of psychosocial strain. Screening patients' partners in addition to patients themselves may enable earlier identification of risk settings. The support offered to either member of such dyads should account for their role- and gender-specific needs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley ; Sons, Ltd.

The fruit garden : a treatise intended to explain and illustrate the physiology of fruit trees, the theory and practice of all operations connected with the propagation, transplanting, pruning and training of orchard and garden trees ... the laying out and arranging different kinds of orchards and gardens ... : illustrated with upwards of 150 figures ... /

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American agricultural annual; a farmers' yearbook, exhibiting recent progress in agricultural theory and practice, and a guide to present and future labors.

Mode of access: Internet.

An English grammar, in familiar conversations, inductive and progressive; uniting and harmonizing theory and practice, and adapted to oral teaching.

Includes bibliographical references.

The vinter's, brewer's, spirit merchant's, and licensed victualler's guide; containing the history, theory, and practice of manufacturing wines, foreign and domestic ... Numerous important hints on cellaring ... Also, a description of the saccharometer, and the various hydrometers, with their uses. Tables shewing the difference in quantity and value between the old and new imperial measures. Selections from, and abstracts of, all Acts of Parliament relating to excise laws.

Mode of access: Internet.

The elements of navigation; containing the theory and practice. With the necessary tables, and compendiums for finding the latitude and longitude at sea. To which is added, a treatise of marine fortification. Composed for the use of the Royal Mathematical School at Christ's Hospital, the Royal Academy at Portsmouth, and the gentlemen of the Navy ...

"A dissertation on the rise and progress of the modern art of navigation," by James Wilson: v. 1, p. [i]-xxx.

Key to the exercises in Harmony: its theory and practice /

Mode of access: Internet.

A dictionary of chemistry, exhibiting the present state of the theory and practice of that science, its application to natural philosophy, the processes of manufactures, metallurgy, and numerous other arts dependant on the properties and habitudes of bodies, in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. With a considerable number of tables, expressing the elective attractions, specific gravities, comparative heats, component parts, combinations, and other affections of the objects of chemical research. Illustrated with engravings.

Paged continuously.

Maintenance of family ties of long-term care patients : theory and guide to practice /

Mode of access: Internet.

Golf in theory and practice : some hints to beginners.

Plates.