Scaling Behavior in 4D Simplicial Quantum Gravity

Scaling relations in four-dimensional simplicial quantum gravity are proposed using the concept of the geodesic distance. Based on the analogy of a loop length distribution in the two-dimensional case, the scaling relations of the boundary volume distribution in four dimensions are discussed in three regions: the strong-coupling phase, the critical point and the weak-coupling phase. In each phase a different scaling behavior is found.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 10 postscript figures, uses psfig.sty and cite.st

Requirement of Interaction between Mast Cells and Skin Dendritic Cells to Establish Contact Hypersensitivity

The role of mast cells (MCs) in contact hypersensitivity (CHS) remains controversial. This is due in part to the use of the MC-deficient Kit W/Wv mouse model, since Kit W/Wv mice congenitally lack other types of cells as a result of a point mutation in c-kit. A recent study indicated that the intronic enhancer (IE) for Il4 gene transcription is essential for MCs but not in other cell types. The aim of this study is to re-evaluate the roles of MCs in CHS using mice in which MCs can be conditionally and specifically depleted. Transgenic Mas-TRECK mice in which MCs are depleted conditionally were newly generated using cell-type specific gene regulation by IE. Using this mouse, CHS and FITC-induced cutaneous DC migration were analyzed. Chemotaxis assay and cytoplasmic Ca2+ imaging were performed by co-culture of bone marrow-derived MCs (BMMCs) and bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs). In Mas-TRECK mice, CHS was attenuated when MCs were depleted during the sensitization phase. In addition, both maturation and migration of skin DCs were abrogated by MC depletion. Consistently, BMMCs enhanced maturation and chemotaxis of BMDC in ICAM-1 and TNF-α dependent manners Furthermore, stimulated BMDCs increased intracellular Ca2+ of MC upon direct interaction and up-regulated membrane-bound TNF-α on BMMCs. These results suggest that MCs enhance DC functions by interacting with DCs in the skin to establish the sensitization phase of CHS

Cultural trauma, counter-narratives, and dialogical intellectuals: the works of Murakami Haruki and Mori Tatsuya in the context of the Aum affair

In this article, we offer a new conceptualization of intellectuals as carriers of cultural trauma through a case study of the Aum Affair, a series of crimes and terrorist attacks committed by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyō. In understanding the performative roles intellectuals play in trauma construction, we offer a new dichotomy between “authoritative intellectuals,” who draw on their privileged parcours and status to impose a distinct trauma narrative, and “dialogical intellectuals,” who engage with local actors dialogically to produce polyphonic and open-ended trauma narratives. We identify three dimensions of dialogical intellectual action: firstly, the intellectuals may be involved in dialogue with local participants; secondly, the intellectual products themselves may be dialogical in content; and thirdly, there might be a concerted effort on the part of the intellectuals to record and to disseminate dialogue between local participants. In the context of the Aum Affair, we analyze the works of Murakami Haruki and Mori Tatsuya as dialogical intellectuals while they sought, with the help of local actors’ experiences, to challenge and to alter the orthodox trauma narrative of Aum Shinrikyō as exclusively a social evil external to Japanese society and an enemy to be excluded from it. Towards the end of the article, we discuss the broader significance of this case study and suggest that in light of recent societal and technological developments, the role and scope of dialogical intellectuals as carriers of trauma are changing and possibly expanding