Conference Report

Report from the Human Rights in Asia 2011 conference held at the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex

Human Rights in Asia Conference report 2013

Report from the Human Rights in Asia 2013 conference held at the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex

Human Rights in Asia Conference report 2014: South Asia in Focus

Report from the Human Rights in Asia 2014 conference held at the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex

Conference Report

Report from the Human Rights in Asia 2010 conference held at the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex

Human Rights in Asia Conference 2009 programme: Strengthening Human Rights Protection in the Asia Region: Optimism or Pessimism?

Programme from the Human Rights in Asia 2009 conference held at the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex. Full report not available

A Picture-Book Recommender System for Extensive Reading on an E-Book System

In this paper, we demonstrate a picture-book recommender system to promote extensive reading in English. Extensive reading refers to the independent reading of a large quantity of material for information or pleasure and is known to be effective for acquisition of a second language. The recommender system is implemented on an e-book system that shows digital learning materials (e.g., textbooks and slides) on student’s device. Activities on the e-book system are recorded as learning logs. The recommender system suggests picture books in English based on contents of English textbooks. Specifically, we implement two recommendation strategies: (1) term-based recommendation and (2) grammar-based recommendation. In the future, we use learning logs and loan records of picture books to investigate the influence of picture books on acquisition of English and to enable personalized recommendations for each student

Are Two z~6 Quasars Gravitationally Lensed ?

Several high-z (z > 5.7) quasars have been found in the course of Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The presence of such very high-z quasars is expected to give constraints on early structure formation. On one hand, it is suggested that these most luminous objects at high redshift are biased toward the highly magnified objects by gravitational lensing. To clarify the effect of gravitational lensing on the high-z quasars, we began the imaging survey of intervening lensing galaxies. Indeed our previous optical image showed that SDSSp J104433.04+012502.2 at z=5.74 is gravitationally magnified by a factor 2. In this paper, we report our new optical imaging of other two high-z quasars, SDSSp J103027.10+052455.0 at z=6.28 and SDSSp J130608.26+035626.3 at z=5.99. Since we find neither intervening galaxy nor counter image with i^{\prime} < 25.4-25.8 around each quasar, we conclude that they are not strongly magnified regardless that a lens galaxy is dusty.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for PAS

The Halpha Luminosity Function of the Galaxy Cluster Abell 521 at z = 0.25

We present an optical multicolor-imaging study of the galaxy cluster Abell 521 at $z = 0.25$, using Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope, covering an area of $32 \times 20$ arcmin$^2$ ($9.4 \times 5.8 h_{50}^{-2}$ Mpc$^2$ at $z = 0.25$). Our imaging data taken with both a narrow-band filter, $NB816$ ($\lambda_0 = 8150$\AA and $\Delta \lambda = 120$\AA), and broad-band filters, $B,V,R_{\rm C}, i^\prime$, and $z^\prime$ allow us to find 165 H$\alpha$ emitters. We obtain the H$\alpha$ luminosity function (LF) for the cluster galaxies within 2 Mpc; the Schechter parameters are $\alpha = -0.75 \pm 0.23$, $\phi^\star = 10^{-0.25 \pm 0.20}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, and $L^\star = 10^{42.03 \pm 0.17}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Although the faint end slope, $\alpha$, is consistent with that of the local cluster H$\alpha$ LFs, the characteristic luminosity, $L^\star$, is about 6 times (or $\approx 2$ mag) brighter. This strong evolution implies that Abell 521 contains more active star-forming galaxies than the local clusters, being consistent with the observed Butcher-Oemler effect. However, the bright $L^\star$ of Abell 521 may be, at least in part, due to the dynamical condition of this cluster.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, ApJ, Part 1, in pres