Automatic Air Quality Monitoring Systems

The scope of this book, comprising papers from an ergonomics symposium (Australia, 1972), is less than the title implies. The book focuses predominantly upon experimental data, and will be of most interest to psychologists and, perhaps, physiologists. The contributions are of two kinds. The first eight contain theoretical discussions and experimental studies of human performance and behavior under stressful conditions. Phenomena studied include reaction time, information processing, the effects of physical exertion, and thermal stress arousal. The remaining six deal with medical and psychiatric aspects of stress, drawing on clinical and epidemiological data. Topics include occupational stress, adrenocortical activity, heart disease, and psychiatric illnesses. Where the former contributions rely on experimental "stress" simulation (mostly using physical overload), the medical contributions refer to nonexperimental, life situational stress. The relationship between experimental and nonexperimental stress is not adequately discussed. Further, a holistic discussion of prevailing theories of stress might have given greater coherence to this otherwise interesting collection of research findings. A. J. McMichael, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Epidemiology University of North Carolina