Edinburgh Napier University

About: Edinburgh Napier University is a education organization based out in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2665 authors who have published 6859 publications receiving 175272 citations.

Hardness and density profile of surface densified and thermally modified Scots pine in relation to degree of densification

Abstract: Solid Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) wood was surface densified to three different degrees of compression and hydrothermal post-treatment after surface densification process was performed. The study determined the significance of degree of compression and hydrothermal post-treatment on the density profile generated and the resulting improved Brinell hardness. It was found that different degree of compression resulted in only slightly different density profiles, when compared on the absolute thickness scale. Although the hydrothermal post-treatment lead to an average mass loss of 3.8 % in surface densified specimens regardless of the degree of compression, density profile of surface densified specimens was not significantly affected by hydrothermal post-treatment. Furthermore, the surface densification increased the Brinell hardness more than 90 %. Degree of compression had limited effect, which means that it did not matter if the specimens were compressed from 22 to 15 mm or 18 to 15 mm, the Brinell hardness was approximately the same. The hydrothermal post-treatment did not reduce the Brinell hardness of control and surface densified specimens. Furthermore, the surface densification significantly increased the elastic recovery of surface densified wood, which was measured during hardness measurements and was affected by degree of compression. Additionally, the hydrothermal post-treatment reduced the elastic recovery, in control specimens and surface densified specimens.

Practitioner talk: the changing textscape of HRM and emergence of HR business partnership

Abstract: It has been evident for some time in mainstream HRM writing, that HR work is largely framed as a business issue, accelerated by new developments in technology and increasing pressures being placed on the function to enhance its contribution to the organisation, and at the same time be more cost effective. Our paper examines the implications of this, and contributes to current debate about what the redesign of HR work means for HR professional expertise, the definition of legitimate HR work activities, and changing relationships with employees and line managers. By foregrounding the language of HR practitioners as a force for change in how HR work is shaped, we deploy an approach rooted in critical discourse analysis to analyze practitioner up-take of concepts like HR business partnership at the level of speech, and how it interacts with broader social and material practices. We examine three main discursive themes from our analysis, to argue that critical engagement with the concept of HR business partner...

The Past, Present, and Future of Information Policy: Towards a normative theory of the information society

Abstract: The profile of information policy in academic and policy-making circles has been rising in recent decades, a function, presumably, of the expansion of an ‘information society’. Nevertheless, there is widespread confusion over its meaning and purpose. This paper seeks to produce a clearer picture, building on useful groundwork in information science and other disciplines. The history of information policy is traced, featuring exposition of the pioneering contribution of Marc Porat in the 1970s. The present state of information policy is then described, with particular reference to some salient themes of current literature: issue inventories (i.e. the scope of information policy); academic identity (including a critique of attempts to appropriate information policy for one discipline); and the ideal – or, it is argued, illusion – of a ‘national information policy’. In the final section of the paper, some suggestions are made for the future direction of information policy. First, information policy should en...