Using people actively involved in mountain climbing, this thesis explores people‟s motivations to participate in mountain climbing, an activity frequently characterised in terms of risk. Moreover, using a variety of both quantitative and qualitative methods the assessment of the role of risk as a motivation for mountain climbing is central to the thesis. The first study (N = 232) employed a the...

In this paper, a dynamic humanoid with a stair case model is designed to achieve a dynamically stable stair climbing gait pattern, and sequences of stair climbing locomotion analysis (weight acceptance, pull up, forward continuance, foot clearance and foot placement) are presented. A suitable trajectory control strategy is developed for the lower limb’s joints (hips, knees, ankles) during stair...

Despite significant research focused on running robots, very little progress has been made towards legged robots that are capable of climbing in natural environments. Unlike their running counterparts, climbing robots must generate hand or foot holds capable of pulling them toward the substrate. The majority of efforts to develop climbing robots have been for urban settings with smooth glass or...

Mu- and delta-opioid subtype receptor antagonists were tested in the mouse for their effects on vertical climbing activity, an index of striatal dopaminergic activity. The selective delta-opioid antagonist ICI 154 129 (I/l) by itself enhanced vertical climbing activity in a dose-related manner, whereas the mu-opioid antagonist naloxone by itself was inactive on climbing behavior. Naloxone incre...

Many species of gobiid fishes adhere to surfaces using a sucker formed from fusion of the pelvic fins. Juveniles of many amphidromous species use this pelvic sucker to scale waterfalls during migrations to upstream habitats after an oceanic larval phase. However, adults may still use suckers to re-scale waterfalls if displaced. If attachment force is proportional to sucker area and if growth of...

BACKGROUND Stair climbing is a vigorous activity and can lead to several health benefits. Studies seeking to increase stair climbing in various public locations have shown positive effects, while results from similar studies conducted in the workplace are inconclusive. This study examined stair climbing in the workplace, and monitored effects from a single- and a combined intervention. Interven...

Rock climbing is a fast growing adventure sport that sees use in summer camps, university programs, and commercial recreation across the world. Because of its challenging nature, rock climbing is often perceived to be a scary experience for newcomers; but it also seems to have a huge potential for self-growth. In this study we examine if the type of ground school instruction provided to climber...

An important step towards understanding the function of olivo-cerebellar climbing fibres must be to clarify what they signal. We suggest that climbing fibres projecting to paravermal cerebellum mediate highly integrated sensorimotor information derived from activity in spinal withdrawal reflex modules acting on single forelimb muscles. To test this hypothesis, cutaneous nociceptive receptive fi...

Climbing fiber discharges within the rat cerebellar cortex have been shown to display synchrony, especially for climbing fibers terminating in the same parasagittal bands. In addition, Purkinje cells which have the smallest rostrocaudal separation also seem to have the highest degree of synchrony. But this has so far only been investigated for distances down to 250 mum. In the present study, we...