Regulation

Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. 　In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. 　For example: in biology, gene regulation and metabolic regulation allow living organisms to adapt to their environment and maintain homeostasis; in government, typically regulation means stipulations of the delegated legislation which is drafted by subject-matter experts[citation needed] to enforce primary legislation; in business, industry self-regulation occurs through self-regulatory organizations and trade associations which allow industries to set and enforce rules with less government involvement; and, in psychology, self-regulation theory is the study of how individuals regulate their thoughts and behaviors to reach goals.

Imaging

Look up imaging in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　Imaging is the representation or reproduction of an object's form; especially a visual representation (i.e., the formation of an image). 　Imaging technology is the application of materials and methods to create, preserve, or duplicate images. 　Imaging science is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the generation, collection, duplication, analysis, modification, and visualization of images, including imaging things that the human eye cannot detect. 　As an evolving field it includes research and researchers from physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, computer vision, computer science, and perceptual psychology. 　Imager are imaging sensors.

Bangladesh

Coordinates: 24°N 90°E / 24°N 90°E / 24; 90 This article contains Bengali text. 　Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols. 　Bangladesh (/ˌbæŋɡləˈdɛʃ, ˌbɑːŋ-/; Bengali: বাংলাদেশ, pronounced [ˈbaŋlaˌdeʃ] (listen)), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. 　It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). 　Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world, and shares land borders with India to the west, north, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast; to the south it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. 　It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor; and from China by the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. 　Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. 　Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. 　The official language is Bengali, one of the easternmost branches of the Indo-European language family. 　Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided during the Partition of India in 1947. 　The country has a Bengali Muslim majority. 　Ancient Bengal was an important cultural centre in the Indian subcontinent as the home of the states of Vanga, Pundra, Gangaridai, Gauda, Samatata, and Harikela. 　The Mauryan, Gupta, Pala, Sena, Chandra and Deva dynasties were the last pre-Islamic rulers of Bengal. 　The Muslim conquest of Bengal began in 1204 when Bakhtiar Khalji overran northern Bengal and invaded Tibet. 　Becoming part of the Delhi Sultanate, three city-states emerged in the 14th century with much of eastern Bengal being ruled from Sonargaon. 　Sufi missionary leaders like Sultan Balkhi, Shah Jalal and Shah Makhdum Rupos helped in spreading Muslim rule. 　The region was unified into an independent, unitary Bengal Sultanate. 　Under Mughal rule, eastern Bengal continued to prosper as the melting pot of Muslims in the eastern subcontinent and attracted traders from around the world. 　The Bengali elite were among the richest people in the world due to strong trade networks like the muslin trade which supplied textiles, such as 40% of Dutch imports from Asia. 　Mughal Bengal became increasingly assertive and independent under the Nawabs of Bengal in the 18th century. 　In 1757, the betrayal of Mir Jafar resulted in the defeat of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah to the British East India Company and eventual British dominance across South Asia. 　The Bengal Presidency grew into the largest administrative unit in British India. 　The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 set a precedent for the emergence of Bangladesh. 　In 1940, the first Prime Minister of Bengal supported the Lahore Resolution with the hope of creating a state in the eastern subcontinent. 　Prior to the partition of Bengal, the Prime Minister of Bengal proposed a Bengali sovereign state. 　A referendum and the announcement of the Radcliffe Line established the present-day territorial boundary of Bangladesh. 　In 1947, East Bengal became the most populous province in the Dominion of Pakistan. 　It was renamed as East Pakistan with Dhaka becoming the country's legislative capital. 　The Bengali Language Movement in 1952; the East Bengali legislative election, 1954; the 1958 Pakistani coup d'état; the Six point movement of 1966; and the 1970 Pakistani general election resulted in the rise of Bengali nationalism and pro-democracy movements in East Pakistan. 　The refusal of the Pakistani military junta to transfer power to the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, in which the Mukti Bahini aided by India waged a successful armed revolution. 　The conflict saw the 1971 Bangladesh genocide and the massacre of pro-independence Bengali civilians, including intellectuals. 　The new state of Bangladesh became the first constitutionally secular state in South Asia in 1972. 　Islam was declared the state religion in 1988. 　In 2010, the Bangladesh Supreme Court reaffirmed secular principles in the constitution. 　A middle power in the Indo-Pacific, Bangladesh is the second largest economy in South Asia. 　It maintains the third-largest military in the region and is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. 　The large Muslim population of Bangladesh makes it the third-largest Muslim-majority country. 　Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic based on the Westminster system. 　Bengalis make up 99% of the total population of Bangladesh. 　The country consists of eight divisions, 64 districts and 495 subdistricts. 　It hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world due to the Rohingya genocide. 　Bangladesh faces many challenges, particularly corruption and effects of climate change. 　Bangladesh has been a leader within the Climate Vulnerable Forum. 　It hosts the headquarters of BIMSTEC. 　It is a founding member of SAARC, as well as a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Harbor

A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. 　The term harbor is often used interchangeably with port, which is a man-made facility built for loading and unloading vessels and dropping off and picking up passengers. 　Ports usually include one or more harbors. 　Alexandria Port in Egypt is an example of a port with two harbors. 　Harbors may be natural or artificial. 　An artificial harbor can have deliberately constructed breakwaters, sea walls, or jettys or they can be constructed by dredging, which requires maintenance by further periodic dredging. 　An example of an artificial harbor is Long Beach Harbor, California, United States, which was an array of salt marshes and tidal flats too shallow for modern merchant ships before it was first dredged in the early 20th century. 　In contrast, a natural harbor is surrounded on several sides of land. 　Examples of natural harbors include Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia and Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka.

Funeral

Funerary practices in different cultures A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. 　Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect the dead, from interment, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor. 　Customs vary between cultures and religious groups. 　Funerals have both normative and legal components. 　Common secular motivations for funerals include mourning the deceased, celebrating their life, and offering support and sympathy to the bereaved; additionally, funerals may have religious aspects that are intended to help the soul of the deceased reach the afterlife, resurrection or reincarnation. 　The funeral usually includes a ritual through which the corpse receives a final disposition. 　Depending on culture and religion, these can involve either the destruction of the body (for example, by cremation or sky burial) or its preservation (for example, by mummification or interment). 　Differing beliefs about cleanliness and the relationship between body and soul are reflected in funerary practices. 　A memorial service (or celebration of life) is a funerary ceremony that is performed without the remains of the deceased person. 　The word funeral comes from the Latin funus, which had a variety of meanings, including the corpse and the funerary rites themselves. 　Funerary art is art produced in connection with burials, including many kinds of tombs, and objects specially made for burial like flowers with a corpse.

Devil

A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. 　It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. 　Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 　1) a principle of evil independent from God, 　2) an aspect of God, 　3) a created being turning evil (a fallen angel), and 　4) a symbol of human evil.　: 23  Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil. 　The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature developing independently within each of the traditions. 　It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names—Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Iblis—and attributes: it is portrayed as blue, black, or red; it is portrayed as having horns on its head, and without horns, and so on. 　While depictions of the devil are usually taken seriously, there are times when it is treated less seriously; when, for example, devil figures are used in advertising and on candy wrappers.

Detective

A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. 　They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. 　This leads them to arrest criminals and enable them to be convicted in court. 　A detective may work for the police or privately.

Birmingham

Birmingham (/ˈbɜːrmɪŋəm/ (listen) BUR-ming-əm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. 　It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West Midlands metropolitan county, and approximately 4.3 million in the wider metropolitan area. 　It is the largest UK metropolitan area outside of London. 　Birmingham is known as the second city of the United Kingdom. 　Located in the West Midlands region of England, approximately 100 miles (160 km) from London, Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. 　Distinctively, Birmingham only has small rivers flowing through it, mainly the River Tame and its tributaries River Rea and River Cole – one of the closest main rivers is the Severn, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of the city centre. 　Historically a market town in Warwickshire in the medieval period, Birmingham grew during the 18th century during the Midlands Enlightenment and during the Industrial Revolution, which saw advances in science, technology and economic development, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. 　By 1791, it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". 　Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation; this provided an economic base for prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. 　The Watt steam engine was invented in Birmingham. 　The resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of political radicalism which, under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain, was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy. 　From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. 　The damage done to the city's infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive urban regeneration in subsequent decades. 　Birmingham's economy is now dominated by the service sector. 　The city is a major international commercial centre and an important transport, retail, events and conference hub. 　Its metropolitan economy is the second-largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121.1bn (2014[update]). 　Its five universities, including the University of Birmingham, make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. 　Birmingham's major cultural institutions – the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Library of Birmingham and Barber Institute of Fine Arts – enjoy international reputations, and the city has vibrant and influential grassroots art, music, literary and culinary scenes. 　The city also successfully hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games. 　In 2021, Birmingham was the third most visited city in the UK by people from foreign nations.

Photon

A photon (from Ancient Greek φῶς, φωτός (phôs, phōtós) 'light') is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. 　Photons are massless, so they always move at the speed of light in vacuum, 299792458 m/s (or about 186,282 mi/s). 　The photon belongs to the class of bosons. 　As with other elementary particles, photons are best explained by quantum mechanics and exhibit wave–particle duality, their behavior featuring properties of both waves and particles. 　The modern photon concept originated during the first two decades of the 20th century with the work of Albert Einstein, who built upon the research of Max Planck. 　While trying to explain how matter and electromagnetic radiation could be in thermal equilibrium with one another, Planck proposed that the energy stored within a material object should be regarded as composed of an integer number of discrete, equal-sized parts. 　To explain the photoelectric effect, Einstein introduced the idea that light itself is made of discrete units of energy. 　In 1926, Gilbert N. Lewis popularized the term photon for these energy units. 　Subsequently, many other experiments validated Einstein's approach. 　In the Standard Model of particle physics, photons and other elementary particles are described as a necessary consequence of physical laws having a certain symmetry at every point in spacetime. 　The intrinsic properties of particles, such as charge, mass, and spin, are determined by gauge symmetry. 　The photon concept has led to momentous advances in experimental and theoretical physics, including lasers, Bose–Einstein condensation, quantum field theory, and the probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics. 　It has been applied to photochemistry, high-resolution microscopy, and measurements of molecular distances. 　Moreover, photons have been studied as elements of quantum computers, and for applications in optical imaging and optical communication such as quantum cryptography.

Friday

Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. 　In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. 　In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week. 　In most Western countries, Friday is the fifth and final day of the working week. 　In some other countries, Friday is the first day of the weekend, with Saturday the second. 　In Israel, Friday is the sixth day of the week. 　In Iran, Friday is the last day of the weekend, with Saturday as the first day of the working week. 　Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also followed this convention until they changed to a Friday–Saturday weekend on September 1, 2006, in Bahrain and the UAE, and a year later in Kuwait. 　The UAE changed its weekend from Friday-Saturday to Saturday-Sunday on January 1, 2022.

Vertical

Look up vertical in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting straight lines that form an "X" Vertical (music), a musical interval where the two notes sound simultaneously "Vertical", a type of wine tasting in which different vintages of the same wine type from the same winery are tasted Vertical Aerospace, stylised as "Vertical", British aerospace manufacturer Vertical Kilometer, a discipline of skyrunning Vertical market, a market in which vendors offer goods and services specific to an industry

Sheet

Look up sheet or three sheets to the wind in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　Sheet or Sheets may refer to: Bed sheet, a rectangular piece of cloth used as bedding Sheet of paper, a flat, very thin piece of paper Sheet metal, a flat thin piece of metal Sheet (sailing), a line, cable or chain used to control the clew of a sail

Fuck

Fuck is English-language profanity which often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. 　While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to around 1475 CE. 　In modern usage, the term fuck and its derivatives (such as fucker and fucking) are used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an interjection or an adverb. 　There are many common phrases that employ the word as well as compounds that incorporate it, such as motherfucker, fuckwit, fuckup, fucknut, fucktard, and fuck off.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh (/ˈpɪtsbɜːrɡ/ PITS-burg) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. 　It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, and the 68th largest city in the U.S. with a population of 302,971 as of the 2020 census. 　The city anchors the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania; its population of 2.37 million is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 27th-largest in the U.S. 　It is the principal city of the greater Pittsburgh–New Castle–Weirton combined statistical area that extends into Ohio and West Virginia. 　Pittsburgh is located in southwest Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River, which combine to form the Ohio River. 　Pittsburgh is known both as "the Steel City" for its dominant role in the history of the U.S. steel industry, and as the "City of Bridges" for its 446 bridges. 　The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclined railways, a pre-revolutionary fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. 　The city developed as a vital link of the Atlantic coast and Midwest, as the mineral-rich Allegheny Mountains led to the region being contested by the French and British empires, Virginians, Whiskey Rebels, and Civil War raiders. 　Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in the manufacturing of other important materials—aluminum and glass—and in the petroleum industry. 　Additionally, it is a leader in computing, electronics, and the automotive industry. 　For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York City and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment; it had the most U.S. stockholders per capita. 　Deindustrialization in the 1970s and 1980s laid off area blue-collar workers as steel and other heavy industries declined, and thousands of downtown white-collar workers also lost jobs when several Pittsburgh-based companies moved out. 　The population dropped from a peak of 675,000 in 1950 to 370,000 in 1990. 　However, this rich industrial history left the area with renowned museums, medical centers, parks, research centers, and a diverse cultural district. 　After 1990, Pittsburgh transformed into a hub for the health care, education, and technology industries. 　Pittsburgh is home to large medical providers, including the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), and 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. 　Google, Apple, Bosch, Meta, Nokia, Autodesk, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM are among some 1,600 technology firms with a presence in the city, generating $20.7 billion in annual Pittsburgh payrolls. 　Federal money has supported the research agenda. 　The area has served as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research and the nuclear navy. 　The nation's fifth-largest bank, eight Fortune 500 companies, and six of the top 300 U.S. law firms make their global headquarters in the area, while RAND Corporation (RAND), BNY Mellon, Nova, FedEx, Bayer, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have regional bases that helped Pittsburgh become the sixth-best area for U.S. job growth. 　In 2015, Pittsburgh was listed among the "eleven most livable cities in the world" by Metropolis magazine. 　The Economist's Global Liveability Ranking placed Pittsburgh as the most or second-most livable city in the United States in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2018. 　The region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and energy extraction.

Leaf

A leaf is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. 　Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, flower, and fruit collectively form the shoot system. 　In most leaves, the primary photosynthetic tissue is the palisade mesophyll and is located on the upper side of the blade or lamina of the leaf but in some species, including the mature foliage of Eucalyptus, palisade mesophyll is present on both sides and the leaves are said to be isobilateral. 　Most leaves are flattened and have distinct upper (adaxial) and lower (abaxial) surfaces that differ in color, hairiness, the number of stomata (pores that intake and output gases), the amount and structure of epicuticular wax and other features. 　Leaves are mostly green in color due to the presence of a compound called chlorophyll that is essential for photosynthesis as it absorbs light energy from the sun. 　A leaf with lighter-colored or white patches or edges is called a variegated leaf. 　Leaves can have many different shapes, sizes, textures and colors. 　The broad, flat leaves with complex venation of flowering plants are known as megaphylls and the species that bear them, the majority, as broad-leaved or megaphyllous plants, which also includes acrogymnosperms and ferns. 　In the lycopods, with different evolutionary origins, the leaves are simple (with only a single vein) and are known as microphylls. 　Some leaves, such as bulb scales, are not above ground. 　In many aquatic species, the leaves are submerged in water. 　Succulent plants often have thick juicy leaves, but some leaves are without major photosynthetic function and may be dead at maturity, as in some cataphylls and spines. 　Furthermore, several kinds of leaf-like structures found in vascular plants are not totally homologous with them. 　Examples include flattened plant stems called phylloclades and cladodes, and flattened leaf stems called phyllodes which differ from leaves both in their structure and origin. 　Some structures of non-vascular plants look and function much like leaves. 　Examples include the phyllids of mosses and liverworts.

Bow

Look up bow in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. 　Bow often refers to: Bow and arrow, a weapon Bowing, bending the upper body as a social gesture An ornamental knot made of ribbon Bow may also refer to: Bow (watercraft), the foremost part of a ship or boat Bow (position), the rower seated in the bow of a racing shell

Warren

A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. 　Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. 　The term evolved from the medieval Anglo-Norman concept of free warren, which had been, essentially, the equivalent of a hunting license for a given woodland.

Cargo

Cargo consists of goods conveyed by water, air, or land. 　In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. 　Cargo was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transport by rail, van, truck, or intermodal container. 　The term cargo is also used in case of goods in the cold-chain, because the perishable inventory is always in transit towards a final end-use, even when it is held in cold storage or other similar climate-controlled facility. 　The term freight is commonly used to describe the movements of flows of goods being transported by any mode of transportation. 　Multi-modal container units, designed as reusable carriers to facilitate unit load handling of the goods contained, are also referred to as cargo, especially by shipping lines and logistics operators. 　Similarly, aircraft ULD boxes are also documented as cargo, with an associated packing list of the items contained within. 　When empty containers are shipped each unit is documented as a cargo and when goods are stored within, the contents are termed containerized cargo.

Instrumental

An instrumental or instrumental song is music normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. 　Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instrumentals. 　The music is primarily or exclusively produced using musical instruments. 　An instrumental can exist in music notation, after it is written by a composer; in the mind of the composer (especially in cases where the composer themselves will perform the piece, as in the case of a blues solo guitarist or a folk music fiddle player); as a piece that is performed live by a single instrumentalist or a musical ensemble, which could range in components from a duo or trio to a large big band, concert band or orchestra. 　In a song that is otherwise sung, a section that is not sung but which is played by instruments can be called an instrumental interlude, or, if it occurs at the beginning of the song, before the singer starts to sing, an instrumental introduction. 　If the instrumental section highlights the skill, musicality, and often the virtuosity of a particular performer (or group of performers), the section may be called a "solo" (e.g., the guitar solo that is a key section of heavy metal music and hard rock songs). 　If the instruments are percussion instruments, the interlude can be called a percussion interlude or "percussion break". 　These interludes are a form of break in the song.

Benjamin

This article contains special characters. 　Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols. 　Benjamin (Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין‎ Bīnyāmīn; "Son of (the) right") was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thirteenth child and twelfth and youngest son) in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. 　He was also the progenitor of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. 　Unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan according to biblical narrative. 　In the Samaritan Pentateuch, Benjamin's name appears as "Binyamēm" (Samaritan Hebrew: ࠁ‎ࠪ‎ࠍࠬ‎ࠉࠣ‎ࠌࠜ‎ࠉࠌࠬ‎, "son of days"). 　In the Quran, Benjamin is referred to as a righteous young child, who remained with Jacob when the older brothers plotted against Joseph. 　Later rabbinic traditions name him as one of four ancient Israelites who died without sin, the other three being Chileab, Jesse and Amram.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. 　Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. 　Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. 　Kabul is the country's largest city and serves as its capital. 　As of 2021[update], Afghanistan's population is 40.2 million (officially estimated to be 32.9 million), composed of ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Qizilbash, Aimak, Pashayi, Baloch, Pamiris, Nuristanis, and others. 　Human habitation in Afghanistan dates back to the Middle Paleolithic era, and the country's strategic location along the historic Silk Road has led it to being described, picturesquely, as the ‘roundabout of the ancient world’. 　Popularly referred to as the graveyard of empires, the land has historically been home to various peoples and has witnessed numerous military campaigns, including those by the Persians, Alexander the Great, the Maurya Empire, Arab Muslims, the Mongols, the British, the Soviet Union, and most recently by an American-led coalition. 　Afghanistan also served as the source from which the Greco-Bactrians and the Mughals, among others, rose to form major empires. 　The various conquests and periods in both the Iranian and Indian cultural spheres made the area a center for Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and later Islam throughout history. 　The modern state of Afghanistan began with the Durrani dynasty in the 18th century, with the Durrani Afghan Empire being formed by Ahmad Shah Durrani. 　The Durrani Empire led conquests in which, at its peak, encompassed land that spanned from eastern Iran to northern India. 　It is however, argued that Dost Mohammad Khan laid the foundations of the first modern Afghan state. 　Following the Durrani Empire's decline and the death of Ahmad Shah Durrani, and Timur Shah, it was divided into multiple smaller independent kingdoms, including but not limited to: Herat, Kandahar and Kabul. 　Afghanistan would be reunited in the 19th century after 70 years of civil war from 1793–1863, with wars of unification led by Dost Mohammad Khan from 1823-1863, where he conquered the independent principalities in Afghanistan under the Emirate of Kabul. 　Dost Mohammad died in 1863, days after his last campaign to unite Afghanistan, and as a result, threw Afghanistan back into civil war with his successors. 　During this time, Afghanistan became a buffer state in the Great Game between the British Empire (in British-ruled India) and the Russian Empire. 　From India, the British attempted to subjugate Afghanistan but were repelled in the First Anglo-Afghan War. 　However, the Second Anglo-Afghan War saw a British victory and the successful establishment of British political influence over Afghanistan. 　Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, Afghanistan became free of foreign political hegemony, and emerged as the independent Kingdom of Afghanistan in June 1926 under Amanullah Khan. 　This monarchy lasted almost 50 years, until Zahir Shah was overthrown in 1973, following which the Republic of Afghanistan was established. 　Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan's history has been dominated by extensive warfare, including coups, invasions, insurgencies, and civil wars. 　The conflict began in 1978 when a communist revolution established a socialist state, and subsequent infighting prompted the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan in 1979. 　Mujahideen fought against them in the Soviet–Afghan War and continued fighting amongst themselves following Soviet withdrawal in 1989. 　The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban controlled most of the country by 1996, but their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan received little international recognition before its overthrow in the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan. 　The Taliban returned to power in 2021 following Kabul's capture by the Taliban and the concurrent overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, ending the 2001–2021 war. 　Although initially claiming to form an inclusive government for the country, the Taliban in September 2021 re-established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with an interim government made up entirely of Taliban members; the regime currently remains internationally unrecognized. 　Afghanistan is rich in natural resources, including lithium, iron, zinc, and copper. 　It is also the world's largest producer of opium, second largest producer of cannabis, and third largest of both saffron and cashmere. 　The country is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and a founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. 　Due to the effects of war in recent decades, the country has dealt with high levels of terrorism, poverty, and child malnutrition. 　Afghanistan's economy is the world's 96th-largest, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $72.9 billion by purchasing power parity. 　Afghanistan is one of the least developed countries ranking 180th in the Human development Index, and fares much worse in terms of per-capita GDP (PPP), ranking 169th out of 186 countries as of 2018[update].

Shadows (anthology)

Shadows was a series of horror anthologies edited by Charles L. Grant, published by Doubleday from 1978 to 1991. 　Grant, a proponent of "quiet horror", initiated the series in order to offer readers a showcase of this kind of fiction. 　The short stories appearing in the Shadows largely dispensed with traditional Gothic settings, and had very little physical violence. 　Instead, they featured slow accumulations of dread through subtle omens, mostly taking place in everyday settings. 　While Grant himself was very adept at this kind of fiction, he contributed no stories to the anthologies, writing only the introductions and author profiles. 　The first volume in the series won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology.

Incumbent

The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. 　In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-election or not. 　In some situations, there may not be an incumbent at time of an election for that office or position (ex; when a new electoral division is created), in which case the office or position is regarded as vacant or open. 　In the United States, an election without an incumbent is referred to as an open seat or open contest.

Genre

Genre (from French genre 'kind, or sort') is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. 　In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria, yet genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional. 　Genres form by conventions that change over time as cultures invent new genres and discontinue the use of old ones. 　Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. 　Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. 　Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. 　Genre began[clarification needed] as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature, as set out in Aristotle's Poetics. 　For Aristotle, poetry (odes, epics, etc.), prose, and performance each had specific design features that supported appropriate content of each genre. 　Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, for example, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best. 　Genres proliferate and develop beyond Aristotle’s classifications in response to changes in audiences and creators. 　Genre has become a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictability through artistic expression. 　Given that art is often a response to a social state, in that people write, paint, sing, dance, and otherwise produce art about what they know about, the use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings. 　Musician Ezra LaFleur argues that discussion of genre should draw from Ludwig Wittgenstein's idea of family resemblance. 　Genres are helpful labels for communicating but do not necessarily have a single attribute that is the essence of the genre.