This short primer provides a concise and tutorial-style introduction to transport phenomena in Newtonian fluids , in particular the transport of mass, energy and momentum. The reader will find detailed derivations of the transport equations for these phenomena, as well as selected analytical solutions to the transport equations in some simple geometries. After a brief introduction to the basic mathematics used in the text, Chapter 2, which deals with momentum transport, presents a derivation of the Navier-Stokes-Duhem equation describing the basic flow in a Newtonian fluid. Also provided at this stage are the derivations of the Bernoulli equation, the pressure equation and the wave equation for sound waves. The boundary layer, turbulent flow and flow separation are briefly reviewed. Chapter 3, which addresses energy transport caused by thermal conduction and convection, examines a derivation of the heat transport equation. Finally, Chapter 4, which focuses on mass transport caused by diffusion and convection, discusses a derivation of the mass transport equation.

Frank Ecker examines the performance of U.S. initial public offerings (IPOs) from 1980 to 2002. He links positive and negative abnormal returns to the deviation of the realized information risk from the expected information risk. The author proposes effective measures for a long-term profitable investment strategy in IPOs.

Earnings Quality reviews current research activities around earnings quality. It provides an overview of alternative definitions and measures of earnings quality and a discussion of research design choices encountered in earnings quality research with a focus on capital markets. Earnings Quality examines how the precision of financial information affects the assessment and use of that information by capital market participants. The authors' main focus is on the precision of earnings, which is viewed as a summary indicator of the overall quality of financial reporting. The authors review: earnings quality and place earnings quality in the context of overall capital market information quality; the determinants of earnings quality, broadly separated into intrinsic determinants that derive from business models and operating environments and reporting determinants that derive from the management's implementation decisions in financial reporting process; twelve measures of earnings quality providing examples of research using these measures, and offer views on which measures are preferable in a given context; research design issues and research findings pertaining to the capital market consequences of earnings quality, in particular its association with expected returns (or the cost of capital) and unexpected (abnormal) returns. Earnings Quality should be of interest to many participants in the financial reporting process including standard setters, preparers, auditors, regulators, analysts, and financial press commentators. It should be of equal interest to accounting educators and researchers.

This overview of recent research on how institutions matter in tackling environmental problems reports the findings and policy implications of a decade-long international research project. Studies show that institutions play a role both in causing and in addressing problems arising from human-environment interactions. But the nature of this role is complex and not easily described. This book presents an overview of recent research on how institutions matter in efforts to tackle such environmental problems as the loss of biological diversity, the degradation of forests, and the overarching issue of climate change. Using the tools of the "new institutionalism" in the social sciences, the book treats institutions as sets of rights, rules, and decision-making procedures. Individual chapters present research findings and examine policy implications regarding questions of causality, performance, and institutional design as well as the themes of institutional fit (or misfit), interplay, and scale. Institutions and Environmental Change is the product of a decade-long international research project on the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) carried out under the auspices of the International Human Dimensions Programme. The book's policy insights demonstrate that research on institutions can provide the basis for practical advice on effective ways to deal with the most pressing environmental problems of our times. Contributors Frank Biermann, Carl Folke, Victor Galaz, Thomas Gehring, Joyeeta Gupta, Thomas Hahn, Leslie A. King, Ronald B. Mitchell, Sebastian Oberthur, Per Olsson, Heike Schroeder, Uno Svedin, Simon Tay, Arild Underdal, Oran R. Young