Circadian activity of the fat dormouse Glis glis measured with camera traps at bait stations

Monitoring of small nocturnal and arboreal rodents is difficult and often conducted using indirect techniques. Here, we measured the circadian activity of the fat dormouse (Glis glis) directly using camera traps. The study took place at the Spitzberg in SW Germany. Data were collected using six Bushnell Natureview cameras with a macro lens at baited feeding stations. At 14 out of 41 active camera locations, edible dormice occurred. We collected 301 events between 8th July and 5th October 2018. There were 21.5 events per camera trap (SD 30.4), ranging from 1 to 82. The edible dormouse showed a nocturnal pattern, with a mean activity around midnight at 24:15 h. The pattern shows a slightly bimodal activity. Feeding activity started around or even slightly before sunset and stopped right before sunrise. The study shows that circadian activity, in this respect feeding activity, can be captured by camera trapping, which is a non-invasive method, and can be applied easily in the field.

Population status and threats to fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833) in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Eastern Nepal

Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) in eastern Terai of Nepal is believed to hold a relatively healthy population of vulnerable fishing cats but has remained unexplored. We conducted camera trapping and questionnaire survey in KTWR and its buffer zone in the winter of 2016 and 2017 to estimate the population status and threats to fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus. Camera trapping was conducted in 2016 on fish farms in the eastern buffer zone where we found a minimum of nine fishing cat individuals visiting the surveyed fish ponds. The frequency of their visits to fish ponds varied 0–5 (average 2) nights during seven active camera trap nights. A survey in the second year (2017) covered the entire reserve. Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture models estimated a population of 20 fishing cats with density of 8.4/100 km2 in KTWR and the eastern buffer zone. We interviewed 50 fish farmers to understand the people’s perceptions towards fishing cats. More than 40% of the respondents reported fishing cats consuming fish from their farm. Retaliation and road kills were documented as major threats of fishing cats in the study area. The population of the fishing cat is found dependent partially on fish ponds, indicating the possibility of conflict with fish farmers. We recommend the detailed study on the movement of fishing cats between the reserve and fish farming area in the buffer zone.

An Intelligent Automatic Human Detection and Tracking System Based on Weighted Resampling Particle Filtering

At present, traditional visual-based surveillance systems are becoming impractical, inefficient, and time-consuming. Automation-based surveillance systems appeared to overcome these limitations. However, the automatic systems have some challenges such as occlusion and retaining images smoothly and continuously. This research proposes a weighted resampling particle filter approach for human tracking to handle these challenges. The primary functions of the proposed system are human detection, human monitoring, and camera control. We used the codebook matching algorithm to define the human region as a target and track it, and we used the practical filter algorithm to follow and extract the target information. Consequently, the obtained information was used to configure the camera control. The experiments were tested in various environments to prove the stability and performance of the proposed system based on the active camera.

Above the Action: The Cultural Politics of Watching Dota 2

The rise of live-streaming platforms, and the related surge in popularity of esports, remind us that there is a politics of watching play. This article extends intensified scholarly interest in game spectatorship, offering a materialist consideration of the embodied work involved in spectating competitive game play. Most readily associated with the discursive alignments between competitive gaming and/as sport, the active camera mode used by esports competitors and “shoutcasters” facilitates analyzing the highly kinetic action of team-based combat in first-person shooters and multiplayer online battle arenas. Here, we draw from microanalyses of audio-visual recordings taken as individual participants spectated a Dota 2 match. Examining the cognitive and perceptual competencies they draw from, we argue that participants are incorporated into apparatuses of perception associated with militarized optical media. While at a discursive level esports spectators may be watching sports, at a material level they are playing with the logics of drones.