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Saltation

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saltation

[sȯl′tā·shən]
(geology)
Transport of a sediment in which the particles are moved forward in a series of short intermittent bounces from a bottom surface.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Saltation

 

the intermittent conduction of a nerve impulse along myelinated nerves, whose sheath has a relatively high resistance to electric currents. Regular (every 1–2 mm) microscopic constrictions in the myelin sheath, called the nodes of Ranvier, are found along the length of the nerve. Nerve-impulse conduction along internodal sections is achieved electro-tonically, although the weakening of an impulse is reduced by the insulating properties of myelin. Upon reaching the next node of Ranvier, a signal again increases in strength to the standard level as a result of the generation of an action potential. Thus, the reliable and economical conduction of an impulse along a nerve fiber is ensured: an impulse seems to jump from one node of Ranvier to another.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
Saltatory foraging also is seen in ground-foraging birds, the researchers explain, as well as in birds foraging on flying insects, as they fly from perch to perch.
Michael Crichton (2005: 627) in State of Fear In spite of the prevailing practice derived from lay or thoughtless usage (e.g., Kamler, 2002), the ontogeny of organisms should be realistically described based on the saltatory life-history model of embryo, larva, juvenile, adult and senescent periods (e.g., Balon, 1985, 1986, 1999, 2004b), each period separated by natural boundaries.
The same is true for the meadow jumping mouse, whose elongated hind legs are adapted to saltatory motion.
Early ontogeny of walleye, Stizostedion vitreum, with steps of saltatory development.
The point every altered state method, from the absolutely free association Breathwork evokes (Hendricks, 1995; Zimberoff & Hartman, 1999) to the saltatory, emotion-driven age regressions used in Hypno-Behavioral Therapy (Zimberoff & Hartman, 1998), is to facilitate an exploration of history in a manner that reveals patterns so far unrecognized by the conscious intellect.
The enlargement process, permanently controlled and disposing of the clearly defined subjects and precise rules, in most cases lacks the symptoms of spontaneity; moreover, repeated strokes are not "a quick and saltatory phenomenon" as is implied by the term "waves." This indication can only be supposed to express that the Communities prefer the admission of a group of countries to the separate entrance of an individual candidate country.
The larval search strategy for prey appeared to change from one that was saltatory to one that was cruising, and the foraging behavior was not strongly affected by variation in prey availability.
The Pleistocene glaciation caused the arid area to shrink and led to the disappearance of many species that had adapted to the desert conditions--the extinct saltatory marsupials of the family Argyrolagidae, for instance.
Myelinated nerve conduction is saltatory, meaning the impulse leaps from one node of Ranvier to the next.
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