Definitions beginning with V

(vuh-REN-ih-klin TAR-trayt) A drug used to help people stop smoking by acting the same way nicotine acts in the brain. It is a type of nicotine receptor partial agonist. Also called Chantix.
National Cancer Institute - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: agonist, Chantix, finasteride, LH-RH agonist, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist

Variability - permalink - collapse

All > Technology > Defense

The manner in which the probability of damage to a specific target decreases with the distance from ground zero; or, in damage assessment, a mathematical factor introduced to average the effects of orientation, minor shielding, and uncertainty of target response to the effects considered.
DoD Missile Defense Agency - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: DAI, Effective Damage, Fragmentation Warhead

variable - permalink - collapse

All > Technology > Programming > Java

An item of data named by an identifier. Each variable has a type, such as int or Object, and a scope. See also class variable, instance variable, local variable.
Sun Microsystems - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Block, class scope, Identifier, local variable, method body, method variable, out of scope, overloading, scope

All > Technology > Programming > Perl

A named storage location that can hold any of various kinds of "value", as your program sees fit.
Perl - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Decrement, field, Literal, member data, property, scalar variable, troff

Variable annuity - permalink - collapse

All > Business > Finance > Personal Finance

A variable annuity is an insurance company product designed to allow you to accumulate retirement savings.
When you purchase a variable annuity, either with a lump sum or over time, you allocate the premiums you pay among the various separate account funds offered in your annuity contract.
The tax-deferred return on your variable annuity fluctuates with the performance of the underlying investments in your separate account funds, sometimes called investment portfolios or subaccounts.
You may purchase qualified variable annuities, which are offered as options within an employer sponsored retirement savings plan, or nonqualified variable annuities. Nonqualified annuities are those you purchase on your own, often to supplement other retirement savings.
You can also choose an individual retirement annuity, which resembles an individual retirement account except that the underlying investments are separate account funds.
Among the appeals of both qualified and nonqualified variable annuities is the promise of a stream of income for life if you annuitize the assets in your account and the right to make tax-exempt transfers among separate account funds.
If you purchase a nonqualified annuity, there are no federal limits on the annual amounts you can invest, no requirement that you purchase the annuity with earned income, and no minimum required withdrawals beginning at 70 1/2.
However, with both types of variable annuities, withdrawals before you reach age 59 1/2 may be subject to a 10% early withdrawal tax penalty.

Yahoo Finance - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Accumulation period, Annuitization, Annuitize, Annuity, Annuity principal, Deferred annuity, Fixed annuity, Hybrid annuity, Immediate annuity, Income annuity, Nonqualified annuity, Separate account, Split-funded annuity

Variable costs - permalink - collapse

All > Science > Water

Input costs that change as the nature of the production activity of its circumstances change; for example, as production levels vary.
Bureau of Reclamation - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: B/C, Benefit-cost ratio (B/C), Cost allocation, Cost effectiveness, Net economic benefits, Operations and maintenance costs

variable declaration - permalink - collapse

All > Technology > Programming > Java

The association of a variable with a particular type. It is important to make a distinction between the declaration of variables of primitive types and those of class types. A variable of primitive type acts as a container for a single value of its declared type. Declaration of a variable of a class type does not automatically cause an object of that type to be constructed and, by default, the variable will contain the value null. A variable of a class type acts as a holder for a reference to an object that is compatible with the variable's class type. Java's rules of polymorphism allow a variable of a class type to hold a reference to any object of its declared type or any of its sub types. A variable with a declared type of Object, therefore, may hold a reference to an object of any class, therefore.
David J. Barnes - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: blank final variable, constant, declaration and initialization, default initial value, final, final variable, initializer, null reference, Reference, uninitialized variable

variable domain - permalink - collapse

All > Science > Biotechnology and Genetics > Food Biotechnology

Regions of antibody molecules that have different amino acid sequences in different antibody molecules. These regions are responsible for the antigen-binding specificity of the antibody.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: allotype, complementarity-determining regions, constant domains, dAb, Michaelis constant, single domain antibody, V region

Variable Expenses - permalink - collapse

All > Business > Real Estate

Costs or payments that may vary from month to month, for example, gasoline or food.
US Department of Housing and Urban Development - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Fixed Expenses, Permanent mortgage, Risk Based Capital

variable expressivity - permalink - collapse

All > Science > Biotechnology and Genetics > Food Biotechnology

Variation in the phenotype caused by different alleles of the same gene and/or by the action of other genes and/or by the action of non-genetic factors.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: biosilk, cis-acting sequence, dosage compensation, epigenetic variation, EST, Express, expressivity, Gene expression, gene imprinting, glucocorticoid, immediate early gene, incomplete penetrance, inhibitor, modifying gene, penetrance, position effect

Variable interest rate - permalink - collapse

All > Business > Real Estate

An amount of compensation to a lender rate that is allowed to vary over the maturity of a loan. The amount of variation is generally governed by an index.
U.S. Census Bureau - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Adjustment Index, Adjustment Interval, Cost of Funds Index (COFI), index, LIBOR-Index, margin, Treasury Index

variable interpolation - permalink - collapse

All > Technology > Programming > Perl

The "interpolation" of a scalar or array variable into a string.
Perl - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: interpolation, list, list value, null list, pseudofunction, return value, scalar, scalar literal, scalar value, true, Vector

variable length buffer - permalink - collapse

All > Technology > Telecommunications

A buffer into which data may be entered at one rate and removed at another rate without changing the data sequence. Note: Most first-in first-out (FIFO) storage devices are variable-length buffers in that the input rate may be variable while the output rate is constant or the output rate may be variable while the input rate is constant. Various clocking and control systems are used to allow control of underflow or overflow conditions.
ATIS - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: bouncing busy hour (BBH), clock error, clock free-run mode, clock normal mode, clock rate, clock tolerance, clock track, coasting mode, coordinated clock, date, Department of Defense (DOD) master clock, heterochronous, independent clocks, indirect control, phase transients, quartz clock, reference clock, rubidium clock, slave clock, time standard, time tick, timing signal, timing tracking accuracy

Variable life insurance - permalink - collapse

All > Business > Finance > Personal Finance

Variable life insurance policies are cash-value policies that allow you to choose how your premium is invested from among a package of alternatives offered by the insurer.
In many variable life policies, the face value of your policy depends on how well the investments you've chosen are performing.

Yahoo Finance - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Accelerated death benefit, Asset, Death benefit, Decreasing term insurance, Face value, Financial instrument, General account, Insurance trust, Insured bond, Life settlement, Lump sum, Survivorship life, Viatical settlement

Variable maturity mortgage - permalink - collapse

All > Business > Real Estate

A long-term mortgage loan under which the interest rate may be adjusted periodically. Payment levels remain the same but the loan maturity is lengthened or shortened to accommodate the adjustment.
U.S. Census Bureau - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Adjustable mortgage loan, Adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), Adjustment Date, Alternative mortgage instrument (AMI), ARM, consumer handbook on adjustable rate mortgages (C.H.A.R.M.), Conversion Clause, Conversion Option, Convertible ARM, convertible mortgage, Fixed-Period Adjustable-Rate Mortgage, Fixed-rate mortgage, Initial Interest Rate, Interest Rate Ceiling, Interest Rate Floor, Payment Change Date, Prime rate, Two Step Mortgage, variable rate mortgage (VRM)

variable number tandem repeat - permalink - collapse

All > Science > Biotechnology and Genetics > Food Biotechnology

(Abbreviation: VNTR). A DNA sequence, present as tandem repeats, for which the number of copies varies greatly between unrelated genotypes.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: sequence tandem repeat, STR, tandem array, tandem repeat

Variable payment plan - permalink - collapse

All > Business > Real Estate

Any mortgage repayment schedule that provides for periodic change in the amount of monthly payments. Changes may occur as a result of the expiration of an interest only period (flexible payment mortgage), a planned step-up in payments (graduated payment mortgage), or a change in the interest rate due to fluctuation in an index (variable or adjustable rate mortgage).
U.S. Census Bureau - Cite This Source - This Definition
Browse Related Terms: Assumable loan, Change Orders, Mitigation, modification, Predictive Variables