Visa Inc.

Visa Inc. (/ˈviːzə/ or /ˈviːsə/) is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Foster City, California, United States. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards and debit cards. Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers. In 2008, according to The Nilson Report, Visa held a 38.3% market share of the credit card marketplace and 60.7% of the debit card marketplace in the United States. In 2009, Visa’s global network (known as VisaNet) processed 62 billion transactions with a total volume of $4.4 trillion.

Visa has operations across India, Australia, Oceania, Asia-Pacific, North America, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East. Visa Europe is a separate membership entity that is an exclusive licensee of Visa Inc.'s trademarks and technology in the European region, issuing cards such as Visa Debit and Visa Credit.

The Female Boss

The Female Boss is the debut studio album by British singer and former N-Dubz member Tulisa. It was released on 3 December 2012 via All Around the World and Island Records. The album's artwork was revealed on 6 October 2012 via Tulisa's official Facebook page. The Female Boss originally was to be released on 26 November but was pushed back by one week. It incorporates hip hop, dance and R&B styles while enlisting a variety of producers; The-Dream, Fazer, Stereotypes, Rico Love, Diane Warren and Ed White, among others. The album features guests appearances from British rapper Wiley, American rapper Tyga and Nines. Three singles preceded the album's release; the lead single "Young" peaked at number 1 while "Live It Up" and "Sight of You" peaked within the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart.

Upon its release, The Female Boss has received generally negative reviews from most music critics, with many critics panning the themes, intro of the album, production and some lyrical content, while some critics felt the dance songs were highlights. Commercially, the album opened with poor sales, debuting at number 35 on the UK Albums Chart and number 55 in Ireland.

Mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein

Mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MAVS gene. The protein is also known by the names VISA (virus-induced signaling adapter), IPS-1 and Cardif. Aggregated MAVS forms protease resistant prion-like aggregates that activate IRF3 dimerization.

Function

Double-stranded RNA viruses are recognized in a cell type-dependent manner by the transmembrane receptor TLR3 or by the cytoplasmic RNA helicases MDA5 and RIGI. These interactions initiate signaling pathways that differ in their initial steps but converge in the activation of the protein kinases IKKA (CHUK) and IKKB (IKBKB; MIM 603258), which activate NFKB, or TBK1 and IKBKE (IKBKE), which activate IRF3. Activated IRF3 and NFKB induce transcription of IFNβ (IFNB1). For the TLR3 pathway, the intermediary molecule before the pathways converge is the cytoplasmic protein TRIF (TICAM1). For RIGI, the intermediary protein is mitochondria-bound MAVS.

Kick

A kick is a physical strike using the foot, leg, or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of attack is used frequently by hooved animals as well as humans in the context of stand-up fighting. Kicks play a significant role in many forms of martial arts, such as savate, Combat Hopak, taekwondo, sikaran, karate, Pankration, Kung fu, Vovinam, kickboxing, Muay Thai, capoeira, silat, and kalaripayattu.

Kicking is also prominent from its use in many sports, especially those called football. The best known of these sports is association football, also known as soccer.

History

The English verb to kick appears only in the late 14th century, apparently as a loan from Old Norse, originally in the sense of a hooved animal delivering strikes with his hind legs; the oldest use is Biblical.

Kicks as an act of human aggression have likely existed worldwide since prehistory. However, high kicks, aiming above the waist or to the head appear to have originated from Asian martial arts. Such kicks were introduced to the west in the 19th century with early hybrid martial arts inspired by Asian styles such as Bartitsu and Savate. Practice of high kicks became more universal in the second half of the 20th century with the more widespread development of hybrid styles such as kickboxing and eventually mixed martial arts.

Kick (2014 film)

Kick is a 2014 Indian action film produced and directed by Sajid Nadiadwala under his Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment banner. It is an official remake of a Telugu movie Kick which was released in 2009. The film features Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Randeep Hooda in the lead roles and Nawazuddin Siddiqui , portraying the main antagonist of the film. The screenplay is adapted by Sajid Nadiadwala and Chetan Bhagat. The film released on 25 July 2014 in about 5,000 screens worldwide.

Plot

Dr. Shaina Mehra (Jacqueline Fernandez) is a psychiatrist living in Warsaw, Poland. One day, her father, Mr. Brijesh Mehra (Saurabh Shukla) brings a marriage proposal and asks her to meet Himanshu Tyagi (Randeep Hooda). Himanshu and Shaina meet in a train, where Shaina reveals that she had an ex-boyfriend, Devi, (Salman Khan) and talks about her experiences with him.

Devi Lal Singh is a highly intelligent but adventurous who is always looking for a 'kick' in his life. Due to his daredevil attitude, he never stays in one job for long. He has resigned from 32 companies as he feels that he is suffering from a lack of kick. When Shaina first meets Devi, she is trying to help her friend Vidhi (Sumona Chakravarti) elope with her lover who turns out to be Devi's friend (Kavin Dave). Devi gets them married in a temple but also helps her mother follow them and reach the temple for 'kick'. Shaina starts to like Devi after seeing a video of him beating the goons. Later Shaina meets Devi's caring but easy going parents including his father Lal Singh (Mithun Chakraborty) and his mother (Archana Puran Singh). Devi and Shaina start dating, and fall in love and get married. On Shaina's suggestion, Devi accepts a job in a chemical lab, but resigns in a few days suffering from the lack of "kick". Upon hearing this, Shaina scolds him. Upset, Devi breaks up with her and moves away.

Kick (video game)

Kick is an action arcade game where the player controls a clown on a unicycle, catching falling balloons and Pac-Man characters on the clown's hat. The game was later renamed Kick Man. It uses the Midway Cart Rack arcade system.

Gameplay

The player moves a character to catch falling objects (balloons and Pac-Man icons). The character can also kick an object into the air to attempt to catch it again. The player loses a life for each object the character misses. Kick also has a bonus stage.

Reception

Electronic Games wrote in 1983 that the game had been unsuccessful despite "top-notch background graphics and special sounds for effects. Can you imagine a game featuring Pac-Man that didn't make it? Kick Man is it." The Commodore 64 version was somewhat better received, gaining a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Arcade-to-Home Video Game/Computer Game Translation" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards.

References