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The indoor micro-environment monitoring system of the Forbidden City aims to explore the thresholds of environmental indicators under the presence of coexistence of multiple cultural relics through the analysis of environmental monitoring data and the deterioration of cultural heritiges, and to develop the optimal strategies for the protection and utilization of cultural heritiges. The objects of interest include historic buildings with modernised interior or those used for the storage of movable cultural relics. Several environmental indicators are employed to quantify the dynamic changes of the indoor environment. In order to meet the requirements of 24-hour data collection, real-time data transmission, and easy management and maintenance, the indoor micro-environmental monitoring system has been continuously upgraded and the "LoRa-based Hybrid Self-Organising Network System Deployment Solution" was deployed to satisfy the demands of high precision, low energy consumption, constant stability, and low cost. Taking the Meridian Gate exhibition hall of the Forbidden City during the exhibition "Splendor Forever: Six Centuries of the Forbidden City" as an example, we discussed the relationship between temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and visitor volumes, and the results provide a basis for optimizing the management of the exhibition. Future improvements to the indoor environment monitoring should focus on strengthening the in-depth mining of data and multi-factor correlation analysis, so as to gradually form a systematic and comprehensive monitoring management system.

Background: In accordance with the meridian theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), meridian phenomena are observed along the course of a meridian following acupuncture. Their visible manifestations include alterations in the color (reddening or whitening) of the skin as well as papule and vesicle formation. Objectives: The aim of the present work is to report a series of visible meridian phenomena manifested in human subjects and to correlate them to TCM concepts. A total of 1,200 patients, on whom classical acupuncture (with standard single-use needles without electrostimulation or moxibustion) was applied, were carefully observed and documented. Methods: Visible meridian phenomena were photographed using standard photographical equipment and compared to classical acupuncture channels used by TCM. Results: Ten patients (5 male, 5 female) exhibited visible meridian phenomena. Lines, concurring with the meridians, were observed: white lines in seven cases and red lines in three cases. The duration of the two kinds of phenomena was different. White lines remained visible for a shorter period (10-15 min), whereas red lines were seen for up to one hour after needle removal. Conclusion: These observations indicate that visible meridian phenomena following acupuncture are objective, albeit rare, findings that coincide with the acupuncture channels described in the classical works of TCM. The presence of such phenomena provides a new insight into the concept of meridians and explains the development of the idea in its historical context. © 2021 Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute. All rights reserved.

The consequences of global change cannot be estimated without long-term monitoring programmes. The Kola Meridian transect, along 33°30’E, in the Barents Sea is the longest term monitoring area in the Arctic. Regular (usually annual) hydrobiological benthic surveys along that transect have been performed since 1899. Materials stored in museum collections remain the main source of the faunistic information obtained during the surveys, while only a minor part of these data was published. We reexamined all samples of shell-bearing gastropods from the Kola Meridian stored at the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and at Saint Petersburg State University. We found only 159 museum lots from 73 samples, which constitute a very small portion of the total material collected along the transect. Approximately one-third of them (54 lots) was misidentified or includes individuals that cannot be identified at species level. The species composition revealed by museum materials differs substantially from published checklists. Majority of the studied samples (40) were collected during 1899–1920. However, the extant collections do not provide a reliable baseline for the Kola Meridian. We propose that the storage of zoological material in public collections should be considered as an essential part of long-term monitoring programmes.

Fertilizer sphericity is an important assessment index of appearance quality that affects the fertilization effect. A fertilizer sphericity measuring device based on machine vision was designed aimed at low precision and heavy workload of manual fertilizer measurement, and high cost and complicated operation of high precision measuring instruments. A fertilizer sphericity measuring method based on equatorial and meridian circles was proposed. The device works in an intermittent static acquisition mode to simultaneously obtain both top and side images of a single fertilizer. First, the method performs gamma correction on the top and side images of the single fertilizer, and uses the Canny operator to detect the edge of the image to obtain the equatorial and meridian circular contour images of the fertilizer. Second, based on the fertilizer equatorial and meridian circular contour, the Least Squares Circle method was used to evaluate the roundness of the single fertilizer. Finally, the average roundness value of the equatorial and meridian circles was used as the final sphericity value of the fertilizer. The sphericity measurement test was carried out on the same batch of compound, organic and biological fertilizers by using the sphericity measuring device. The fertilizer sphericity data were obtained by different measurement and evaluation methods. The variation coefficient was used to evaluate the difference in fertilizer sphericity measured by different sphericity measurement and evaluation methods. The results show that among the different measurement and evaluation methods, the coefficient of variation of fertilizer sphericity measured by the equatorial and meridian circle method was the smallest, and the coefficient of variation of sphericity measured by the Least Squares Circle method was the smallest and accurate. This study shows that the sphericity measuring device and method can accurately measure the fertilizer sphericity, and has a significant potential to facilitate fertilizer production and quality inspection.

Acupuncture has been used for treating various medical conditions in traditional Chinese medicine. Both manual and electro-acupuncture stimulate specific acupoints to obtain local and systemic biological effects, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we used three-dimensional tissue-clearing technology to study acupoints on the Ren meridian of mice to reveal the distribution, density, branching, and relationships between blood vessels and nerves. Using topological Mapper methods, we found that sympathetic neurovascular networks were denser in the CV 4 acupoint compared with surrounding non-acupoints. Furthermore, high resolution in vivo real-time vascular imaging using the near infrared-II probe LZ-1105 demonstrated increased blood flow in the CV 4 acupoint compared with neighboring non-acupoints after manual or electro-acupuncture. Consistent with earlier findings, our research indicated that acupuncture could enhance local blood flow, and our high-resolution 3D images show for the first time the important role of sympathetic neurovascular networks in the CV 4 acupoint.

The intelligent tissue theory states that organ information is conveyed on electromagnetic waves and these are interpreted by bodily tissue, so that real-time organ states are reflected in the tissue at each organ’s related meridian. This article describes the practical implications of this, how this relates to acupuncture, and how it accounts for the common acupuncture-related phenomena. The Chinese medicine notion of “chi” is also explored. Its history is described, including the 1970’s reinterpretation. This article suggests that both the Nei Jing and also the 1970’s model of how acupuncture works are merely metaphorical; do not describe reality; and that “chi” (which is central to these models) does not really exist. Alternative explanations are provided for all the common phenomena that are usually attributed to “chi”, and a simple account of how acupuncture works is given.

Energy expenditure of the meridian system in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for living human bodies is one of the fundamental questions regarding the physical properties of the meridian system. As a first attempt to address this, 24 hand/foot meridians were modeled as a continuous channel with the sustainable movement of Qi and blood inside. Then, the fluid mechanics energy equation for steady and incompressible flow was applied to estimate the pumping power of meridian circulation, based on the meridian length, blood viscosity and circulation velocity. Additional findings based on the pumping power estimation results include: (1) new information to corroborate the determination of the production era of Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classics (Huang Di Nei Jing, 《黄帝内经》); (2) a new definition for work of breathing (WOB) from a TCM perspective. This paper could lead to future research aimed at modernizing the understanding of the meridian system, Qi and TCM using quantitative methods.

We revealed the existence of high frequency (HF) electricity flowing through the meridians known to oriental medicine by observing these signals at various acupoints on the human body. This was clearly and scientifically demonstrated by recording the frequency spectrum at these acupoints using a spectrum analyzer. The analysis of the measured spectrum found in 5 particular acupoints of each of the 12 meridians showed that a flow exists in these acupoints that could be measured with a spectrum frequency between 1 MHz and 80 MHz and an intensity of –70 to –60 dBm. Since the presence of these spectrums can be equated with the presence of electricity, we can emphatically conclude that high frequency electricity exists in humans and flows through the acupoints used in oriental medicine. The same characteristic frequency spectrums were found at all the acupoints along the same meridian and were shown to have the same type of HF current flow. In this way, we were able to confirm the existence of meridian flow in a scientific manner. In addition, it was found that as the distance from the organ increased, the intensities of the spectrum measured on that meridian decreased, which is exactly the behavior electrical transmission line theory would predict.

The aim of this review study is to present an integrated and systematic approach to meridian channels and Ashi acupuncture points based on scientific evidence. We herein establish a framework of basic medical science to explain meridian channels based on the(1) Concepts of Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) approach using physics and physiology: (i) the physical theory of pulse sound and cardiovascular physiology: resonance of harmonic sounds and the specific frequencies arising from heartbeats, which form pathways of different meridian channels to enhance microcirculation; (ii) standing wave hypothesis to explain meridian channels; (iii) Ashi acupuncture or trigger points caused by ischemia due to inappropriate harmonic resonance of standing waves; and (2)the TCM concept strengthened by BIOCERAMIC technology: (i) ‘wave-induced flow characteristics of meridians’; (ii) the ‘Propagated sensation along meridian’ phenomenon; (iii) clinical observations of the different chief complaints of candidates in which sensation was induced along specific meridian channels; (iv) generates ‘biofield’ phenomenon composed of virtual channels of interconnecting ‘feet-hands-ears’ to different internal organs/tissues that support the principles of reflexology., Graphical abstract Image 1

Autorefraction consists of the automatic sensing of three parameters – spherical error, cylindrical error, slope of the principal meridian – that describe the deviation of the focusing properties of an ametropic eye with respect to an emmetropic state. Low-cost autorefractors would be highly desirable in resource-poor settings, for the stratification of patients between those who can be treated in the community and those who need to be referred to specialist care. In the present paper, we describe the implementation of an autorefractor based on projecting patterns onto the retina of an eye and observing the projected pattern through an ophthalmoscopic camera configuration coaxial with the projection path. Tunable optics in the coaxial path, combined with appropriate image processing, allows determination of the three parameters. The simplicity and performance of the setup, measured on an eye simulator, shows promise towards clinical use in the community. Further work is needed to confirm the performance in vivo.

Thin-walled parts are widely used in shock wave and detonation physics experiments, which require high surface accuracy and equal thickness. In order to obtain the wall thickness of thin-walled spherical shell parts accurately, a new measurement method is proposed. The trajectories, including meridian and concentric trajectories, are employed to measure the thickness of thin-walled spherical shell parts. The measurement data of the inner and outer surfaces are unified in the same coordinate system, and the thickness is obtained based on a reconstruction model. The meridian and concentric circles’ trajectories are used for measuring a spherical shell with an outer diameter of Φ210.6 mm and an inner diameter of Φ206.4 mm. Without the data in the top area, the surface errors of the outer and inner surfaces are about 5 μm and 6 μm, respectively, and the wall-thickness error is about 8 μm with the meridian trajectory.

Shiftwork nurses experience physical and psychological health problems related to shift work. This study aimed to examine the effects of Meridian acupressure on stress, fatigue, anxiety, and self-efficacy of shiftwork nurses in South Korea. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was employed. Study participants were a total of 59 shiftwork nurses (intervention group: n = 29, control group: n = 30) in S hospital, Seoul, South Korea. The study was conducted at nurse stations in S hospital. Meridian acupressure as intervention was conducted for a total of 15 min on six Meridian acupressure points (GV 20, GB 12, GB 21, LI 11, SI 3, KI 1), 2 min 30 s (10 times for 15 s at a time) on each Meridian point. Measures were the stress scale, fatigue scale, State Anxiety Inventory, and self-efficacy scale, in Korean. Data were collected from July to August 2018. There were significant differences in the degrees of stress, fatigue, and anxiety of shiftwork nurses between the two groups. Meridian acupressure significantly decreased stress, fatigue, and anxiety of shiftwork nurses. This study provides preliminary evidence that Meridian acupressure was an effective intervention. Meridian acupressure could be applied to shiftwork nurses in various clinical situations.

The acupuncture point mapped into the body meridian line has been the subject of extensive research, however, the scientific basis of the body meridian line remains unknown. In the present study, a pair of line-magnets was attached along the heart meridian line between HT4 and HT6 (intervention), and heart rate variability (HRV) was examined in a double-blind, randomized, crossover trial. Forty-five healthy young adults were randomly assigned into two groups and received two interventions in a different order. The only difference between the interventions was that the magnet pole was swapped. The results showed that the frequency-domain (LF, LF/HF) properties of HRV, which reflects underlying autonomic nervous system activity, changed when the magnetic pole’s direction along the heart meridian line was changed. This finding suggests that a line-magnet attached along to the heart meridian line may affect the cardiovascular system.

Background: The vast majority of previous studies focused on the relationship between 1 meridian and 1 organ, and the comparison and specificity between 2 meridians is rarely explored. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the heat transport characteristics between 2 different meridians and the specificity between them will also be investigated. Methods: The Lung and Heart meridians are chosen for comparison of 2 different meridians. We will enroll 120 subjects and divide them into the healthy control group, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) group and healthy intervention group, in a 1:1:1 ratio. Infrared thermography (IRT) will be used to assess the heat transport characteristics of the Heart and Lung meridians. The specificity for the meridian-visceral association will be investigated by comparing the difference in heat transport characteristic between the Heart and Lung meridians in the healthy control group and COPD group. Meanwhile, moxibustion will be given to subjects in the Heart meridian and Lung meridian respectively in the healthy intervention group to verify the specificity for the surface-surface association. Results: The primary outcomes will be the temperature of corresponding sites along the Heart and Lung meridians. Conclusion: This study will verify the specificity between different meridians by comparing the difference in heat transport characteristic. The findings will guide the selection of acupoints to optimize the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and help determine whether IRT could be used to assist in the diagnosis of COPD. Ethics and dissemination: The study has been approved by the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Approval No. ZSLL-KY-2019-001G-01). Trial registration numbers: NCT04046588.

Background: Archery has existed in human history for millenniums. Being a unique exercise and precision sport, the keys to performance are emotional control, attention, and concentration rather than explosive force, muscle power, and endurance. During the execution of archery, attention is the key to performance in elite players, especially in the initial period while drawing the bow. Auricular acupoint stimulation is one of the therapeutic methods of traditional Chinese medicine and has been reported for its use in amplifying the anesthesia effect, weight reduction, cessation of substance abuse, and autonomic nervous modulation. Methods: The study will recruit archery players in school teams among junior and senior high schools and colleges. The subjects will be randomly assigned to the ear and sham acupressure groups. This is a randomized controlled trial with crossover design. The outcome measures will be obtained, including the meridian activities and balance index with Ryodoraku device, the movement stability with WIMU tracking system, the continuous heart rate record, and the scores of the 2 sections as the performance. The subjects will rate their attention and fatigue levels through self-reported questionnaires. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the immediate effect of non-invasive auricular acupoint stimulation on the performance and meridian activities of archery athletes. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04637607.

Persistent median artery (PMA) has been recognized as a major arterial variant of the forearm in about 30% adults and it also shows a continuously increasing trend in the last two hundred years. This may explain well the mystery why a “new meridian” was added to the older 11‐meridian system over two thousand years ago in Chinese medicine. The 12th meridian, Hand Jue Yin Meridian, happens to run along the same pathway as PMA.[Image: see text]

Acne vulgaris of wind-heat in lung meridian is a common skin disease, and there are many traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, but the mechanism is still not clear. In this paper, the literature on the treatment of acne due to wind-heat in lung meridian and the prescriptions in the patents were collected and sorted out in the past twenty years. Excel 2019 was used for medication frequency statistics, and IBM SPSS 25.0 was used for clustering analysis to obtain the core formula. Network pharmacology was used to collect the related targets of drugs and diseases, to construct the action network, and to conduct enrichment analysis. A total of 137 prescriptions and 167 drugs were obtained. The core prescriptions were Cortex mori, Folium eriobotryae, Scutellariae radix, Glycyrrhrizae radix, Fructus gardeniae, Radix rehmanniae, and Cortex moutan. The treatment of acne due to wind-heat in lung meridian should begin with clearing heat, purging the lung, cooling blood and detoxicating. The core prescriptions mainly played a role through AKT1, IL6, TP53, TNF, VEGFA, EGF targets and Kaposi's sarcoma-related herpes virus infection, measles, toxoplasmosis, EB virus infection, IL-17, MAPK and other signaling pathways, so as to provide reference for further clinical research.

In a recent article, Kate Marshall identifies “an emerging body of US fiction located firmly within the strata and sediment of the Anthropocene,” focusing exclusively on twenty-first century literature. A similar chronological focus shapes discussions of the related concept of planetarity, which was first introduced in literary theory in Spivak’s Death of a Discipline (2003). The tendency to relegate anthropocenic and planetary concerns to this millennium is prevalent, and it is evident in the reception of Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (both 2006). However, anthropocenic and planetary concerns have been around much longer in literary fiction, and the two authors have treated them much more elaborately in their most important works, Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) and Blood Meridian (1985). Both novels were written before concepts of the Anthropocene and planetarity became theoretical staples, but I aim to show that their thoughts on humanity and the planet prefigure the recent literary works that critics have centered their discussions of the Anthropocene on. Furthermore, I will show how both novels reflect on language as yet another technology that violates nature’s continuum, and how language is thus presented by Pynchon and McCarthy as a significant force in the Anthropocene.

Objective. By comparing the differences in microcirculatory responses of the heart and lung meridians induced by moxibustion on these two meridians, respectively, this study aimed to investigate the specificity for site-to-site association on body surface between different meridians. Methods. Eighty healthy adults were enrolled and divided into the lung meridian intervention group and heart meridian intervention group in a ratio of 1 : 1. Three-channel laser Doppler flowmetry was used to monitor microcirculatory responses for the heart and lung meridians. Primary outcome was change of blood perfusion units (PU) of three measurement sites along the two meridians. Results. In the lung meridian intervention group, following moxibustion performed at LU5 of the lung meridian, PU in the distal site of the lung meridian increased significantly. By contrast, the PU of HT3 in the heart meridian, which was nearest to the moxibustion site, did not change significantly. PU in the distal site of the heart meridian declined. Meanwhile, significant difference in PU change was detected between the distal site of the lung meridian and the other two control sites of the heart meridians during moxibustion and postmoxibustion. Alternatively, similar to the results of the lung meridian intervention group, the specificity of microcirculatory response between the heart and lung meridians was observed in the heart meridian intervention group. Conclusions. For the heart and lung meridians, the effect of moxibustion-induced microcirculatory response may be more related to meridian routes than the specific distance between two sites located at different meridians, thereby supporting possible specificity for site-to-site association on the body surface between these two meridians. Nevertheless, given that only two meridians and limited measurement sites were compared, all current findings are not sufficiently robust. Further research should be conducted to investigate more meridians and measurement sites.

Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese treatment that has been utilized for centuries. It also plays an important role in traditional Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Mongolian medicine. It is considered safe by practitioners of Alternative Medicine, similar to acupuncture treatment, and consists of burning plant materials called "moxa" on or very near the surface of the skin near meridian points. Traditional practitioners believe that it can be effective against chronic conditions and improve blood in one's body. However, Moxibustion is not without risk to the patient. This case report describes a case of a patient whose moxibustion treatment led to septic shock secondary to necrotizing fasciitis.

The association of acupuncture points requires realization of synergistic combinations to be as effective as possible while avoiding possible aggravations. To this end, the meridian balance method is an effective tool. It is based on the 6 systems of Richard T.-F. Tan, MD, which derive from 6 principles of traditional knowledge: (1) Chinese meridian-name sharing; (2) branching meridians (Bie-Jing); (3) interior-exterior pairs (Biao-Li); (4) Chinese clock opposite; (5) Chinese clock neighbor; and (6) the same meridian. However, the results seem to unstable over time, and, therefore, synergies with "root" treatment based on Japanese meridian therapy could help stabilize the therapeutic effects of the meridian balance method. Japanese meridian therapy uses pulse diagnosis to identify 4 basic primary patterns: (1) Liver Deficiency, generally treated with a combination of acupuncture points LR8-KI10; (2) Kidney Deficiency, treated with LU 5-KI 7; (3) Spleen Deficiency, treated with PC 7-SP 3; and (4) Lung Deficiency, treated with SP 3-LU 9. After reviewing the main principles of Japanese acupuncture, a nondogmatic approach coupling Japanese meridian therapy with Dr. Tan's balance method is proposed in order to use the best of each of the 2 methods in an integrative approach.

Professor Li Ding studied his family knowledge of health preservation with Qigong (气功). And, in his early years, he consulted Mr. Jiang Weiqiao (蒋维乔) on this topic. This article explained the theory of meridian points related to Qigong's theory, such as the location of the Dantian (丹田), the concepts of upper Dantian (上丹田) and lower Dantian (下丹田), the relation between the minor circulation (Xiao Zhou Tian, 小周天) and the conception/governor vessels, as well as the relation between Yin/Yang heel vessels and Qigong. The article also collected one self-composed version health preservation, consisting of four parts of walking, sitting, lying, and rising, which is fit for practical use.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the first branch of the bladder meridian (FBBM) as determined by the proportional bone measurement method (PBMM), to the line formed by the erector spinae muscle group, and to establish an academic basis for selection of acupuncture points and needling. Methods: Sixty participants were divided into 3 groups based on body mass index (BMI) and into 2 groups based on waist/height ratios. The distance from the midline of the spine to the first branch of the bladder meridian with PBMM (DFBBM), and the distance from the midline of the spine to the most elevated fleshy region of the erector spinae (DMEFR), at the same level as the inferior border of the spinous processes of L1- L5, were measured. The DFBBM and the 5 DMEFRs were then analyzed according to BMI and the waist/ height ratio. Results: DFBBM was statistically different from DMEFR in all back-shu points in the lumbar region. DFBBM was not significantly different from DMEFR in the groups with a high BMI or waist/height ratio. However, there was a statistical difference in the groups with a low or moderate BMI or low waist/height ratio. Conclusion: Since the location of the most elevated fleshy region of the erector spinae does not coincide with the location of the FBBM, the selection of back-shu points in the lumbar region must be performed precisely by PBMM. ⓒ2018 Korean Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Plant-derived nature products, known as herb formulas, have been commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for disease prevention and treatment. The herbs have been traditionally classified into different categories according to the TCM Organ systems known as Meridians. Despite the increasing knowledge on the active components of the herbs, the rationale of Meridian classification remains poorly understood. In this study, we took a machine learning approach to explore the classification of Meridian. We determined the molecule features for 646 herbs and their active components including structure-based fingerprints and ADME properties (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion), and found that the Meridian can be predicted by machine learning approaches with a top accuracy of 0.83. We also identified the top compound features that were important for the Meridian prediction. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that molecular properties of the herb compounds are associated with the TCM Meridians. Taken together, the machine learning approach may provide novel insights for the understanding of molecular evidence of Meridians in TCM., Author summary In East Asia, plant-derived natural products, known as herb formulas, have been commonly used as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for disease prevention and treatment. According to the theory of TCM, herbs can be classified as different Meridians according to the balance of Yin and Yang, which are commonly understood as metaphysical concepts. Therefore, the scientific rational of Meridian classification remains poorly understood. The aim of our study was to provide a computational means to understand the classification of Meridians. We showed that the Meridians of herbs can be predicted by the molecular and chemical features of the ingredient compounds, suggesting that the Meridians indeed are associated with the properties of the compounds. Our work provided a novel chemoinformatics approach which may lead to a more systematic strategy to identify the mechanisms of action and active compounds for TCM herbs.

Acupuncture is widely used for improving poststroke care. Knowing the condition of meridian can help traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctors make a tailored choice of acupoints for every patient. The establishment of an objective meridian energy measurement for acute ischemic stroke that can be used for future acupuncture treatment and research is an important area in stroke-assisted therapy. In this study, a total of 102 subjects diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke within 7 days of onset were recruited, and the meridian energy analysis device (MEAD) was used to record the meridian electrical conductance (MEC) values of twelve meridians on unaffected and affected limbs. We found that the MEC value of the twelve meridians on the affected limbs was significantly higher than that on the unaffected limbs (P=0.001). Compared with the unaffected limbs, there was a higher value of MEC on the affected limbs of the lung meridian, heart meridian, pericardium meridian, and small intestine meridian, with significant differences (P<0.05, P<0.001, P<0.001, and P<0.05, respectively). Further analysis revealed that the MEC values of both Yin and Yang meridians of the affected limbs were significantly higher than those of the unaffected limbs (P=0.001 and P<0.05, respectively). Meanwhile, the mean of the index of sympathovagal balance in patients with acute ischemic stroke (5.49 ± 4.21) was higher than the normal range (1–1.5), indicating autonomic imbalance. The results of this study are consistent with TCM theory as well as clinical observation and pathological mechanisms, suggesting that the measurement of MEC values may be used as a supplementary diagnostic method for acupuncture in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Volume transmission is a new major communication signaling via extracellular fluid (interstitial fluid) pathways. It was proposed by the current authors that such pathways can explain the meridian phenomena and acupuncture effects. To investigate whether meridian-like structures exist in fish body and operate via volume transmission in extracellular fluid pathways, we injected alcian blue (AB) under anesthesia into Gephyrocharax melanocheir, which has a translucent body. The migration of AB could be seen directly and was recorded by a digital camera. The fish was then embedded and cut transversely to observe the position of tracks in three dimensions. Eight longitudinal threadlike blue tracks were recognized on the fish. The positions of these threadlike tracks were similar to meridians on the human body. Transverse sections showed that these tracks distributed to different layers of distinct subcutaneous loose connective tissues and intermuscular septa. Lymphatic vessels were sometimes associated with the extracellular blue tracks where the migration of AB occurred. Extracellular fluid pathways were found on fish through their transport of AB. These pathways operating via volume transmission appeared to be similar in positions and functions to the acupuncture meridians in Chinese medicine.

Background: Many studies have assessed Yoga practices using instruments such as AcuGraph, which measures conductances at Jing-Well points of acupuncture meridians. Such studies find that participation in Yoga programs ranging from a weekend to many months systematically increases subtle energy. Here, we report comparison of Jing-Well point conductances before and after sitting in Lotus Posture with those before and after sitting in a chair. Methods: This was a controlled study conducted on 52 male Yoga practitioners (mean age in years 23.03 ± 3.23), all with >1 year experience of Yoga practices. Participants were alternately assigned into two groups, sitting in Lotus Posture and sitting in a chair. Each was measured on 3 successive days, before and after sitting as instructed for 10 min on the 1st day, 20 min on the 2nd day, and 30 min on the 3rd day. Results: The two groups yielded completely different results: those sitting in Lotus Posture for 30 min showed increases in subtle energy levels (E_Ls) in all acupuncture meridians; those sitting in chair produced universal decreases. Results for 10 and 20 min showed how these changes in energy values took time to build up with increasing time. Conclusions: Sitting in Lotus Posture is held to strongly stimulate subtle E_Ls, so results agreed with the experimental hypothesis. Nevertheless, decreases in E_Ls of those sitting in a chair were surprising since the rest might be expected to have no effect.

For more than 2500 years, acupuncture has been applied to support the healing of different diseases and physiologic malfunctions. Although various theories of the meridian system and mechanisms were formulated to explain the functional basis of acupuncture, the anatomical basis for the concept of meridians has not been resolved. The aim of the present study was to search for replicable anatomical structures that could relate to meridians. To this end, four human specimens and additionally two lower legs were dissected anatomically. Our study found evidence that acupuncture meridians were part of the human extracellular matrix and that fascia was an important part of the anatomic substrate of acupuncture meridians. At the same time, we found vessel-nerve-bundles, which were hypothesized to account for 80% of acupuncture points, only in a few acupuncture points. Therefore, our findings contradict the theory that acupuncture points are only located along the nervous channels.

Bu makale Amerikalı yazar CormacMcCarthy’nin Blood Meridian, or TheEvening Redness in the West adlı romaninda post-southern okuma yaklaşımıylathe Judge karakteriyle somutlaştırılan Amerikanin Güney eyaletlerinde etkisinisürdüren tarihi travmatik olayların sorunsallaştırılmasını veeleştirilmesini amaçlamaktadır.Okuyucuya ahlaki bir pusula sunabilmek için, metin iyi-kötü dikotomisini veinsan oğlunun tuhaf ve grotesk dünyasını ‘the kid’ ve ‘the judge’ karakterleriaracılığıyla sunmaktadır. Bu dikotomi aracılığıyla, okuyucu baskın güç vesöylemlerin bakış açısından ve kontrolünden kaçan olası alternatifanlatımlarınve hikayelerin varlığını kabul etmektedir. Karşıt anlatımlar her tür boyuneğdirmeyi ve efsaneleştirilmiş tarihi sorunsallaştırmakta ve baskın gücünezilmişler üzerinde sürdürmeye çalıştığı şiddeti reddetmektedir. Bu bağlamdaiyi ile kötü arasındaki mücadele ve kötünün sergilemiş olduğu çılgınlıkseviyesi Bakhtin ve Thomson’un ileri sürdüğü grotesk ögeler, abartı, mübağalave aşırılık, ışığında iredelenmesiamaçlanmaktadır., This article offers apost-southernist reading that challenges and problematizes the impacts ofhaunted past of the American South with implications of violence embodied byJudge Holden in Cormac McCarthy’s BloodMeridian, or The Evening Redness inthe West. In order to present a moral compass to the reader, the textpresents good-evil dichotomy and the world of human through the uncanny andgrotesque characters of “the kid” and “the judge.” Through this dichotomy, thereader acknowledges the possibility of alternative narratives that escape fromthe control and totalizing gaze of dominant power and discourses. The counter-narratives complicate any types of subjugation, mythologized history, andrefuse to approve the violence that the prevailing power practices againstinnocent people. This paper aims to analyze the struggle between the good andevil and the degree of insanity performed by the evil depicted through southerngothic and grotesque scenes. Thus, the paper contributes to grotesque readingof the selected text through a number of elements: “exaggeration, hyperbolism,and excessiveness,” generally considered fundamental attributes of thegrotesque style (Bakhtin, 1984, p. 303).

The observation that the shadows of objects change during the course of the day and also for a fixed time during a year led curious minds to realize that the Sun could be used as a timekeeper. However, the daily motion of the Sun has some subtleties, for example, with regards to the precise time at which it crosses the meridian near noon. When the Sun is on the meridian, a clock is used to ascertain this time and a vertical stick determines the angle the Sun is above the horizon. These two measurements lead to the construction of a diagram (called an analemma) as an extremely useful resource for the teaching of astronomy. In this paper we report on the construction of this diagram from roughly weekly observations during more than a year., Published version available at http://cms.iafe.uba.ar/gangui/didaastro/#Publications

International audience; In an outdoor autonomous navigational context, classic compass sensors such as magnetometers have to deal with unpredictable magnetic disturbances. In this paper, we propose to get inspiration from the insect navigational abilities to design a celestial compass based on linear polarization of ultraviolet (UV) skylight. To compute the solar meridian relative orientation, our 3D-printed celestial compass uses only two pixels created by two UV-light photo-sensors topped with linear polarizers arranged orthogonally to each other, in the same manner that was observed in insects' Dorsal Rim Area ommatidia. The compass was then embedded on our hexapod walking robot called Hexabot. We first tested the UV-polarized light compass to compensate for yaw random disturbances. We then used the compass to maintain Hexabot's heading direction constant in a straightforward task, knowing the robot has important yaw drifts. Experiments under various meteorological conditions provided steady state heading direction errors from 0.3° under clear sky conditions to 1.9° under overcast sky, which suggests interesting precision and reliability to make this optical compass suitable for robotics.

International audience; Common compass sensors used in outdoor environments are highly disturbed by unpredictable magnetic fields. This paper proposes to get inspiration from the insect navigational strategies to design a celestial compass based on the linear polarization of ultraviolet (UV) skylight. This bio-inspired compass uses only two pixels to determine the solar meridian direction angle. It consists of two UV-light photo-sensors topped with linear polarizers arranged orthogonally to each other as it was observed in insects' Dorsal Rim Area. The compass is embedded on our ant-inspired hexapod walking robot called Hexabot. The performances of the celestial compass under various weather and UV conditions have been investigated. Once embedded onto the robot, the sensor was first used to compensate for yaw random disturbances. We then used the compass to maintain Hexabot's heading direction constant in a straightforward walking task over a flat terrain while being perturbated in yaw by its walking behaviour. Experiments under various meteorological conditions provided steady state heading direction errors from 0.3 • (clear sky) to 1.9 • (overcast sky). These results suggest interesting precision and reliability to make this new optical compass suitable for autonomous field robotics navigation tasks.

Day and night are regular occurrences in nature, and the organs and tissues in living bodies follow this cycle. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) at various time points regulates organ excitation to maintain healthy functions in the living body. The energy required from basal metabolism can be used to explain living organisms according to the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) concept of relationships between meridian directions and organs at various times (organs “at rest” and organs “in operation”). By monitoring skin reactions after applying a cream, we speculated regular blood flow changes, and established an animated hourglass-shaped trajectory diagram to visualize these changes. A combination of TCM and physiological perspectives were considered to explain how the cardiovascular system produces energy. These two perspectives were applied to interpret the correlation between the SNS and organ metabolism.

The human body is a hierarchical organism containing many levels of mutually interacting oscillatory systems. From the viewpoint of traditional Chinese medicine, health is a state of harmony emergent from the interactions of these systems and disease is a state of discord. Hence, human diseases are considered as disturbed functions rather than changed structures. Indeed, the change from normal to abnormal structure may be beneficent rather than maleficent. For example, when one kidney becomes twice the normal size following the destruction of the other kidney, it is good and not bad for us because we might be dead otherwise. Therefore, in Part 3 of this three-part series, emphasis is mainly laid on the acupuncture mechanisms of treating disturbed physiological functions rather than disordered structures. At first, the basic tenets of conventional neuroscience and cardiology are reevaluated so that clear understanding of how nervous and cardiovascular systems work together can be obtained. Then, the general principles of diagnosis and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine from the integrative perspective of complex dynamic systems are proposed. Finally, mechanisms of acupuncture therapies for treating 14 different categories of disorders will be elucidated via the magneto-electric inductive effects of the meridian system.

In the present paper we consider a special class of Lorentz surfaces in the four-dimensional pseudo-Euclidean space with neutral metric which are one-parameter systems of meridians of rotational hypersurfaces with timelike or spacelike axis and call them meridian surfaces. We give the complete classification of minimal and quasi-minimal meridian surfaces. We also classify the meridian surfaces with non-zero constant mean curvature., Comment: 15 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1606.00047

著者人数：11名, Accepted: 2010-02-20, 資料番号: SA1000780000

A further study is made of the validity of a technique developed by the authors to identify historical occurrences of intense geomagnetic storms, which is based on finding approximately coincident observations of sunspots and aurorae recorded in East Asian histories. Previously, the validity of this technique was corroborated using scientific observations of aurorae in Japan during the interval 1957–2004 and contemporaneous white-light images of the Sun obtained by the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the Big Bear Solar Observatory, the Debrecen Heliophysical Observatory, and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft. The present investigation utilises a list of major geomagnetic storms in the interval 1868–2008, which is based on the magnitude of the AA* magnetic index, and reconstructed solar images based on the sunspot observations acquired by the Royal Greenwich Observatory during the shorter interval 1874–1976. It is found that a sunspot large enough to be seen with the unaided eye by an "experienced" observer was located reasonably close to the central solar meridian for almost 90% of these major geomagnetic storms. Even an "average" observer would easily achieve a corresponding success rate of 70% and this success rate increases to about 80% if a minority of ambiguous situations are interpreted favourably. The use of information on major geomagnetic storms, rather than modern auroral observations from Japan, provides a less direct corroboration of the technique for identifying historical occurrences of intense geomagnetic storms, if only because major geomagnetic storms do not necessarily produce auroral displays over East Asia. Nevertheless, the present study provides further corroboration of the validity of the original technique for identifying intense geomagnetic storms. This additional corroboration of the original technique is important because early unaided-eye observations of sunspots and aurorae provide the only possible means of identifying individual geomagnetic storms during the greater part of the past two millennia.

The relief map of Europe by contour lines (hypsometrical curves) in a 1:5,000,000 scale is a monumental work produced by J.-C. Houzeau when he published his “Histoire du sol de l’Europe” (1857).This hypsometrical map of Europe is a genuine masterpiece: contour lines on the recently discovered minute-maps, worked out in a 1:1,000,000 scale, were reduced to a smaller 1:5,000,000 scale, with the aid of a pantograph. This work by J.-C. Houzeau, carried out with the help of his brother Auguste, is a breathtaking achievement from a scientific and geographic point of view. J.-C. Houzeau made use of tens of thousands of altitudes obtained from the engineers-surveyors of the “Ponts et Chaussées” {roads and bridges), civil servants (if any) in the various countries concerned and the engineers-geographers of the military services, in charge of laying out in the Ordnance Survey Maps. More particulary, he used more than 12,000 barometrical marks! All the points that were used are positioned (in a 1:1,000,000 scale), in latitude and longitude, in one single frame which he created (conical projection with the Paris meridian as origin), involving thus an important number of conversions (the standard of the Greenwich meridian had not yet been established). La carte du relief de l’Europe par courbes de niveau (courbes hypsométriques) à l’échelle de 1 :5 000 000 est le produit d’un travail monumental de J.-C. Houzeau. Elle fut publiée en 1857 dans son ouvrage “Histoire du sol de l’Europe”.Cette carte hypsométrique de l’Europe est un authentique chef-d’oeuvre : les courbes de niveau sur les minutes récemment découvertes ont été rédigées à l’échelle de 1 :1 000 000, et ensuite réduites à 1 :5 000 000 à l’aide d’un pantographe.Cette oeuvre de Houzeau, réalisée avec la collaboration de son frère Auguste, est une réalisation époustouflante d’un point de vue scientifique et géographique. J.C. Houzeau a utilisé des dizaines de milliers de points cotés, obtenus d’ingénieurs topographes des Ponts et Chaussées ou de fonctionnaires dans les différents pays concernés, ainsi que des géographes-ingénieurs des services de l’armée chargés de dessiner les cartes topographiques d’Etat-major. Plus spécifiquement, Houzeau a utilisé plus de 12 000 points barométriques ! Tous les points utilisés ont été positionnés (à une échelle de 1 :1 000 000), en latitude et en longitude, dans un seul et unique cadre (projection conique axée sur le méridien de Paris), ce qui a impliqué un nombre impressionnant de conversions (la norme du méridien de Greenwich n’avait pas encore été établie).

Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985) is one of the major literary works of the twentieth-century. It is an opaque text whose interpretation poses great challenges to the critic. McCarthy deploys a complex narrative strategy which revisits the literary tradition, both American and European, in a collage of genres and modes, from the Puritan sermon to the picaresque, in which the grotesque plays a central role. One of the most controversial aspects of the novel is its religious scope, and criticism seems to be divided between those who find in the novel a theological dimension and those who reject such approach, on the grounds that the nihilist discourse is incompatible with any religious message. This essay argues that McCarthy has consciously constructed, or rather deconstructed, an allegorical narrative whose ultimate aim is to subvert the allegory, with its pattern of temptation-resistance and eventual salvation, into a story of irremediable failure.

A non-trivial slope $r$ on a knot $K$ in $S^3$ is called a characterizing slope if whenever the result of $r$-surgery on a knot $K'$ is orientation preservingly homeomorphic to the result of $r$-surgery on $K$, then $K'$ is isotopic to $K$. Ni and Zhang ask: for any hyperbolic knot $K$, is a slope $r = p/q$ with $|p| + |q|$ sufficiently large a characterizing slope? In this article we answer this question in the negative by demonstrating that there is a hyperbolic knot $K$ in $S^3$ which has infinitely many non-characterizing slopes. As the simplest known example, the hyperbolic knot $8_6$ has no integral characterizing slopes., 13 pages, 7 figures

Paraxial light rays incident in air on alternate refracting surfaces of a thick lens can yield complementary powers. This paper aims to test when these powers are invariant as surface refractive powers interchange in the expression. We solve for relevant surface powers. Potential anticommutators yield the nature of surface principal refractions along obliquely crossing perpendicular meridians; commutators yield meridians that align with those on the next surface. An invariant power component orients relative meridians or the nature of the matrix power on each noncylindrical surface demands that the other component varies. Another component of lens power aligns relative meridian positions for distinct principal powers. Interchanging surface power matrices affects this component. A symmetric lens power results if perpendicular principal meridians are associated with meridians on an opposite rotationally symmetric surface. For thin lenses, meridian alignment may be waived. An astigmatic contact lens can be specified by symmetric power despite having separated surfaces.

We construct a special class of spacelike surfaces in the Minkowski 4-space which are one-parameter systems of meridians of the rotational hypersurface with lightlike axis and call these surfaces meridian surfaces of parabolic type. They are analogous to the meridian surfaces of elliptic or hyperbolic type. Using the invariants of these surfaces we give the complete classification of the meridian surfaces of parabolic type with constant Gauss curvature or constant mean curvature. We also classify the Chen meridian surfaces of parabolic type and the meridian surfaces of parabolic type with parallel normal bundle., 10 pages; this is a continuation of the study of meridian surfaces of elliptic or hyperbolic type available as: arXiv:1402.6112. In: Geometry, Integrability and Quantization, I. Mladenov, G. Meng and A. Yoshioka (Eds), Avangard Prima, 2016, 243-255

This study examined the influence of age, gender and race on nitric oxide (NO) release over acupuncture points, meridian without acupoint and non-meridian regions of the Pericardium (PC) and Bladder (BL) meridian as well as aging on LU meridian in 61 healthy subjects. Biocapture tubes were attached to the skin surface and total nitrite and nitrate was biocaptured and quantified using chemiluminescence. In elder ages compared to adults, NO levels over the ventral forearm were significantly decreased over LU on radial regions but not altered over PC on medial regions. Conversely, NO content was elevated over BL regions only in overweight/obesity of elder ages. NO levels over PC regions were marginally elevated in overweight/obese males compared to females but did not alter between races. These results suggest a selective reduction of NO release over LU meridian with aging, which is consistent with a progressive decline in lung function and increase in chronic respiratory disease in elder ages. Increased NO levels along the BL meridian in older obese subjects may reflect a modified NO level along somatic-bladder pathway for counteracting bladder dysfunctions with aging. Both of them support somatic-organ connections in the meridian system associated with potential pathophysiological changes with aging.

In the present article we study a special class of surfaces in the four-dimensional Euclidean space, which are one-parameter systems of meridians of the standard rotational hypersurface. They are called meridian surfaces. We classified semi-parallel meridian surface in 4-dimensional Euclidean space $E^4$., 7 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1305.2336; text overlap with arXiv:0905.4453 by other authors

Previous studies suggest that superoxide anions are possibly traveling along acupuncture meridians. The electrical potential difference (EPD) between acupoints may be related to the movement. To test the above hypothesis, we conducted a study investigating the effects of acupoint antioxidant interventions on the meridian EPD. Firstly, ST39 (L) and ST44 (L) were screened out for the EPD detection along the stomach meridian, and ST36 (L) was selected for interventions including acumassage with the control cream, as well as the TAT-SOD cream for 30 minutes, or injection with reduced glutathione sodium. The EPD between ST39 and ST44 was recorded for 80 minutes and measured again 48 h later. While the EPD increased during the acumassage, the acumassage with TAT-SOD cream and the glutathione injection generated waves of EPD increased, indicating the migration or removal from the visceral organ of a greater quantity of superoxide. Remarkably lower EPD readings 48 h later with both antioxidant acupoint interventions than the mere acumassage imply a more complete superoxide flushing out due to the restored superoxide pathway at the acupoint after interventions. The results confirm superoxide transportation along the meridians and demonstrate a possibility of acupoint EPD measurement as a tool to monitor changes in the meridians and acupoints.

Запропоновано метод визначення положення географічного меридіана триступеневим маятниковим гірокомпасом в процесі експоненційного розгону його ротора. Отримані алгоритми ідентифікації початкового положення вісі ротора, в основу яких покладені як властивості рішень диференційних рівнянь руху гірокомпаса, так і саме рівняння. Розглянуті результати моделювання відповідних алгоритмів обробки інформації. Показані переваги запропонованої методики у порівнянні з традиційними. A method of determining the position of the geographic meridian by threefold pendulum gyrocompass during the process of exponential acceleration of its rotor. Obtained an algorithm identifying the initial position of the rotor axis, which are based on the properties of the gyrocompass's motion solutions of differential equation and the equation itself. The results of simulations of the relevant data processing algorithms, these advantages of the proposed method compared to traditional. Предложен метод определения положения географического меридиана трехстепенным маятниковым гирокомпасом во время процесса экспоненциального разгона его ротора. Получены алгоритмы идентификации начального положения оси ротора, в основу которых положены как свойства решений дифференциального уравнения движения гирокомпаса, так и само уравнение. Рассмотрены результаты моделирования соответствующих алгоритмов обработки информации, Указаны преимущества предложенной методики по сравнению с традиционными.

Results of systematic analysis of propagation directions and horizontal velocities of gravity waves (GWs) and spread F structures in low-latitude ionosphere (magnetic inclination ~27°) in Tucumán region, Argentina, are presented. Measurements were carried out by multipoint continuous Doppler system during 1 year from December 2012 to November 2013. It was found that meridian propagation of GWs dominated and that southward propagation prevailed in the local summer. Oblique spread structures observed in Doppler shift spectrograms and associated with spread F propagated roughly eastward at velocities from ~70 to ~180 m/s and were observed at night from ~ September to ~ March. The velocities were computed for 182 events and the azimuths for 64 events. Continuous Doppler sounding makes it possible to analyze more events compared to optical observations often used for propagation studies since the measurements do not depend on weather. Fil: Chum, J.. Institute of Atmospheric Physics; República Checa Fil: Miranda Bonomi, Fernando Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Electricidad, Electrónica y Computación. Laboratorio de Telecomunicaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Fišer, J.. Institute of Atmospheric Physics; República Checa Fil: Cabrera, M. A.. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Electricidad, Electrónica y Computación. Laboratorio de Telecomunicaciones; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Tucuman; Argentina Fil: Ezquer, Rodolfo Gerardo. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Tucuman; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Ionosfera; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Burešová, D.. Institute of Atmospheric Physics; República Checa Fil: Laštovička, J.. Institute of Atmospheric Physics; República Checa Fil: Baše, J.. Institute of Atmospheric Physics; República Checa Fil: Hruška, F.. Institute of Atmospheric Physics; República Checa Fil: Molina, Maria Graciela. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Ciencias de la Computación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Ise, Juan Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Electricidad, Electrónica y Computación. Laboratorio de Telecomunicaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Cangemi, José Ignacio. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnología. Departamento de Electricidad, Electrónica y Computación. Laboratorio de Telecomunicaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Šindelářová, T.. Institute of Atmospheric Physics; República Checa

Yin-Yang theory is the theoretical basis for Chinese medicine. In the view of Yin-Yang theory, city can be regarded as an organism and the Meridian-collateral system of urban planning constitutes the decisive factor for its quality and equality. To explore Cerda’s wisdom beyond history，we made an analogy between city with the Life body, and proposed the concept of urban Organism. We analyzed the Eixample plan for Barcelona made by Cerdá from the three concepts ： Yin-Yang, Meridian-collateral system and acupuncture points. This paper researches the wisdom why the plan set by Cerdá more than 150 years ago still perfectly suits to the life of a contemporary city, and tries to explore the mechanism and method of designing a balanced city.

In the present article we study a special class of surfaces in the four-dimensional Euclidean space, which are one-parameter systems of meridians of the standard rotational hypersurface. They are called meridian surfaces. We show that a meridian surface has a harmonic Gauss map if and only if it is part of a plane. Further, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a meridian surface to have pointwise 1-type Gauss map and find all meridian surfaces with pointwise 1-type Gauss map.