The study delineates interrelationships between the thermal environment, specially the prolonged seasonal heat stress, and human life and culture in North India. The subject is first treated historically, with a survey of the ideals and behavior of man's adaptation to the climate in ancient and medieval India, and in colonial Anglo-Indian society. Present-day adaptations to the climate, as reflected in housing, clothing, technology, daily regimen, and diet are described and examined in greater detail. The second part of the report centers on heat injuries, with a survey of their worldwide epidemiology, and statistics and maps showing their incidence since 1960 in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The folk beliefs, concepts and therapy which are generally applied in rural North India to the occurrence of heat injuries are described and examined. Appendices further describe the recognized heat disorders and the scientific indices for assessing comfort and heat stress. (Author).

Desert Biology: Special Topics on the Physical and Biological Aspects on Arid Regions, Volume I covers the biology, geophysical characteristics, and ways of life in arid regions. This book is composed of 11 chapters, and begins with a brief description of a desert community, the Merkhiyat Jebels, with its diverse fauna and flora. The subsequent chapters look into the climate, geographical distribution, geologic and geomorphic aspects, and the evolution of desert community. These topics are followed by intensive discussions on desert plants, animals, and limnology. The last chapter describes the adaptive processes and human adaptation capacity to arid environments. This book will prove useful to upper division and graduate students in desert biology.

A number of significant changes have occurred in Advances in Solar Energy since Volume 1 appeared in 1982. The delays in publication of the second volume are the result of reorganization of the American Solar Energy Society, and the negotiation of a new publishing arrangement. Beginning with this volume, Advances is now published jointly by the Society and Plenum Press. The Editorial Board has been enlarged to be more representative of the different fields of solar energy conversion. Production of Advances is being expedited through the use of modern word processing equipment and the 'lEX typesetting-editing program. We have gone to a single-column format to ease the problems of presenting long equations, and we expect that the user of the volume will find it easy to read. The use of 'lEX will make last minute updates possible. The external appearance of the volume matches that of Volume 1. We expect that future volumes of this annual will be proceeding on schedule. We invite comments from users and correspondence from prospective authors of critical reviews. Karl W. Boer John A. Duffie CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 The Measurement of Solar Radiation Ronald Stewart, Daniel W. Spencer and Richard Perez 1.1 Abstract 1 1.2 Characteristics of Pyranometers ....................................... . 2 1.3 General Features of a Pyranometer ................................... . 3 1.3.1 Instrument Sensitivity 4 1.3.2 Response with Time 4 1.3.3 Sensitivity 4 1.3.4 Responsivity ................................................. .