ACTIVITY MONITOR - Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

MED ASSOCIATES INC. ACTIVITY MONITOR
APPENDIX IV
Using Box Size, Resting Delay, Include Resting Delay, and
Ambulatory Trigger
Defining Distance Traveled
Box Size is the user-defined number of X or Y photo-beams that must be broken before a
movement can be considered ambulatory. Starting at time 0, the box is centered on the
subject. When the animal moves from within the Box to outside the Box, it is considered
ambulatory and the Box re-centers on the subject. The subject remains ambulatory until
it does not leave the last re-centered Box in less than the Resting Delay. Ambulatory
Time, Counts, and Distance Traveled are then calculated. If the subject travels equal to
or further than the Ambulatory Trigger during the time prior to the Resting Delay criteria
being fulfilled, then this constitutes one Ambulatory Episode and velocity is calculated.
The Ambulatory Distance measure includes the distance from the end of the last
ambulatory movement episode (time 0 or the last episode whereby the subject did not
exit the Box in less than the Resting Delay) to the end of the subsequent ambulatory
episode. For example, Figure A4.1 represents a 2-beam Box with a subject making 5
movements within the Box and 2 outside.
Figure A4.1 - Include Resting Delay distance. The pictured dots represent photo beams and
each grid represents ½ of a photo beam (the software resolution). Each arrow with a
corresponding number represents a subject movement. The dashed arrow is the transition
movement to ambulatory and the dashed box is the re-centered box. The dark arrow is the
last subject movement and C – E and BB and the beams broken during the ambulatory
movement.
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