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This paper looks at the potential for developing customer relationship strategies using the Internet (electronic customer relationship management) (ECRM) with particular relevance for SMEs. Its basis is in qualitative research and it attempts to integrate the two Internet technologies of the Web and e‐mail into a push‐pull strategy. Aspects of “control” of the message in ECRM are examined and in particular whether democratic e‐communities have a part to play for companies looking to improve their ECRM. In arriving at some conclusions, regarding the implications for commercial organisations, draws on published work in the educational arena. The implications may be particularly important for the SME sector. The paper examines why e‐mail and in particular asynchronous text messaging and conferencing are likely to dominate over other technologies such as chat and video conferencing. Communication paradigms used in television and print publishing have been mapped across on to the Web. The resulting “push‐pull” strategy is determined as the most effective way of harnessing the power of e‐mail with Web‐publishing to develop some aspects of a sound ECRM policy. The strategy involves the development of the Web site as a way of capturing opt‐in subscribers (the pull) who receive proactive outbound communications, and managing that e‐mail address list proactively (the push).

The paper aims to explore the relationship between accounting and racial violence through an investigation of sharecropping in the postbellum American South.

A range of primary sources including peonage case files of the US Department of Justice and the archives of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are utilised. Data are analysed by reference to Randall Collins' theory of violence. Consistent with this theory, a micro-sociological approach to examining violent encounters is employed.

It is demonstrated that the production of alternative or competing accounts, accounting manipulation and failure to account generated interactions where confrontational tension culminated in bluster, physical attacks and lynching. Such violence took place in the context of potent racial ideologies and institutions.

The paper is distinctive in its focus on the interface between accounting and “actual” (as opposed to symbolic) violence. It reveals how accounting processes and traces featured in the highly charged emotional fields from which physical violence could erupt. The study advances knowledge of the role of accounting in race relations from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, a largely unexplored period in the accounting history literature. It also seeks to extend the research agenda on accounting and slavery (which has hitherto emphasised chattel slavery) to encompass the practice of debt peonage.

Purpose — This chapter illustrates and explains the ambiguity and vagueness of the term social search and aims at describing and classifying the heterogeneous landscape of social search implementations on the WWW.

Methodology/approach — We have looked at different definitions as well as the context of social search by carrying out an extensive literature review, and tried to unify and enhance existing ideas and concepts. Our definition of social search is illustrated by a general review of existing social search engines, which are analyzed and described by their specific features and social aspects.

Findings — The chapter presents a discussion of social search as well as a comparison of existing social search engines.

Social implications — The definition of social search and the comparison of social search engines summarize the many ways people can search the web together and allow for an assessment of future developments in this area.

Originality/value of paper — Although different attempts to define social search have been made in the past, we present an argumentation that unifies some existing definitions and which is different from other interpretations of the social search concept. We present an overview and a comparison of the different genres of social search engines.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate when and how people working collaboratively could be assisted in a fact-finding task, specifically focusing on team size and its effect on the outcomes of such a task. This is a follow-up to a previously published study that examined exploratory search tasks.

This research investigates the effects of team size on fact-finding tasks using a lab study involving 68 participants – 12 individuals, ten dyads, and 12 triads. The evaluation framework developed in the preceding work is used to compare the findings with respect to the earlier traditional exploratory task (Task 1) and the complex fact-finding task reported here (Task 2), with task type being the only difference.

The analyses of the user study data show that while adding more people to an exploratory search task could be beneficial in terms of efficiency and effectiveness, such findings do not apply in a complex fact-finding task. Indeed, results showed that the individuals were more efficient and effective doing Task 2 than they were in Task 1. Moreover, they outperformed the dyads and triads in Task 2 with respect to these two measures, which relate to the coverage of useful information and its relation to the expression of information needs. If the total time taken by each team is disregarded, the dyads and triads did better than the individuals in answering the fact-finding questions. But considering the time effect, this performance boost does not keep up with the increased group size.

The findings shed light not only on when, how, and why certain collaborations become successful, but also how team size affects specific aspects of information seeking, including information exposure, information relevancy, information search, and performance. This has implications for system designers, information managers, and educators. The presented work is novel in that it is the first empirical work to show the difference in individual and collaborative work (by dyads and triads) between exploratory and fact-finding tasks.

The purpose of this paper is to predict implementation cost contingencies for residential construction projects in flood-prone areas, where floods with storms frequently cause serious damage and problems for people.

Expert interviews are conducted to identify the study variables. Based on bills of quantities and project documents, historical data on residential construction projects in flood-prone areas are collected. Pearson correlation analysis is first used to check the correlations among the study variables. To overcome multicollinearity, principal component analysis is used. Then, stepwise multiple regression analysis is used to develop the cost prediction model. Finally, non-parametric bootstrap method is used to develop range estimation of the implementation cost.

A list of project-related variables, which could significantly affect implementation costs of residential construction projects in flood-prone areas, is identified. A model, which is developed based on an integration of principle component analysis and regression analysis, is robust. Regarding range estimation, 10, 50 and 90 percent cost estimates, which could provide information about the uncertainty levels in the estimates, are established. Furthermore, implementation cost contingencies which could show information about the variability in the estimates are determined for example case projects. Such information could be critical to cost-related management of residential construction projects in flood-prone areas.

This study attempts to predict implementation cost contingencies for residential construction projects in flood-prone areas using non-parametric bootstrap method. Such contingencies could be useful for project cost budgeting and/or effective cost management.

This study aims to fabricate and study the effect of five cumulative graphite (G) and graphite nanoplatelets (GNP) filler loading composites by polymerising PA6 precursor; monomer epsilon caprolactam with the two carbons in situ while taking cognisance of the mixing effects (simultaneous stirring and sonication at varying amplitudes and duration). Different aspect ratios will be used to model the two streams of polymerisations.

High viscosity extrusion grade PA6 and synthetic G of less than 2 µm particle size were used as fillers. GNP and G are dried for 6 h in vacuum oven at 90°C. Prior to in situ polymerisation, probe sonication was applied to disperse fillers in molten ɛ-caprolactam, the PA6 monomer. Five carbon loadings were made, that is 5–25 Wt.% for G and 0.5–2.5 Wt.% for GNP composites. Two different sonification regimes were applied 20% sonication amplitude for 20 min (20/20) and 40% sonication amplitude for 10 min (40/10).

Better tensile properties were achieved using the 20/20 processing streams for both G and GNP. The G- and the GNP-based composites systems of the 20/20 processing stream had tensile modulus and yield strength retained or improved above the unfilled PA6 value. The highest modulus obtained in the 20/20 streams are 1,878 and 1,201 MPa, respectively, for GNP and G at the highest loading levels, while the 40/10 processing streams had 963 and 1,247 MPa, respectively, for the GNP and G.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, nobody has ever used sonification amplitude to compare mechanical properties.