A simplified microwave-based motion detector for home cage activity monitoring in mice

Background: Locomotor activity of rodents is an important readout to assess well-being and physical health, and is pivotal for behavioral phenotyping. Measuring homecage-activity with standard and cost-effective optical methods in mice has become difficult, as modern housing conditions (e.g. individually ventilated cages, cage enrichment) do not allow constant, unobstructed, visual access. Resolving this issue either makes greater investments necessary, especially if several experiments will be run in parallel, or is at the animals' expense. The purpose of this study is to provide an easy, yet satisfying solution for the behavioral biologist at novice makers level. Results: We show the design, construction and validation of a simplified, low-cost, radar-based motion detector for home cage activity monitoring in mice. In addition we demonstrate that mice which have been selectively bred for low levels of anxiety-related behavior (LAB) have deficits in circadian photoentrainment compared to CD1 control animals. Conclusion: In this study we have demonstrated that our proposed low-cost microwave-based motion detector is well-suited for the study of circadian rhythms in mice

Interaction between Speech and Gesture: Strategies for Pointing to Distant Objects

Pfeiffer T. Interaction between Speech and Gesture: Strategies for Pointing to Distant Objects. In: Efthimiou E, Kouroupetroglou G, Fotinea S-E, eds. Gestures and Sign Language in Human-Computer Interaction and Embodied Communication, 9th International Gesture Workshop, GW 2011. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag GmbH; 2012: 238-249.Referring to objects using multimodal deictic expressions is an important form of communication. This work addresses the question on how pragmatic factors affect content distribution between the modalities speech and gesture. This is done by analyzing a study on deictic pointing gestures to objects under two conditions: with and without speech. The relevant pragmatic factor was the distance to the referent object. As one main result two strategies were identified which were used by participants to adapt their gestures to the condition. This knowledge can be used, e.g., to improve the naturalness of pointing gestures employed by embodied conversational agents