A software patent is a patent on a piece of software, such as a computer program, user interface, or algorithm. A patent is a set of exclusionary rights granted by a state to a patent holder for a limited period of time 20 years; these rights are granted to patent applicants in exchange for their disclosure of the inventions. Once a patent is granted in a given country, no person may make, sell or import/export the claimed invention in that country without the permission of the patent holder. Permission, where granted, is in the form of a license which conditions are set by the patent owner: it may be free or in return for a royalty payment or lump sum fee. Patents are territorial in nature. To obtain a patent, inventors must file patent applications in each and every country in which they want a patent. For example, separate applications must be filed in Japan, the United States and India if the applicant wishes to obtain patents in those countries. However, some regional offices exist, such as the European Patent Office, which act as supranational bodies with the power to grant patents which can be brought into effect in the member states, an international procedure exists for filing a single international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which can give rise to patent protection in most countries.

These different countries and regional offices have different standards for granting patents. This is true of software or computer-implemented inventions where the software is implementing a business method. On 21 May 1962, a British patent application entitled "A Computer Arranged for the Automatic Solution of Linear Programming Problems" was filed; the invention was concerned with efficient memory management for the simplex algorithm, could be implemented by purely software means. The patent seems to be one of the first software patents. Most countries place some limits on the patenting of inventions involving software, but there is no one legal definition of a software patent. For example, U. S. patent law excludes "abstract ideas", this has been used to refuse some patents involving software. In Europe, "computer programs as such" are excluded from patentability, thus European Patent Office policy is that a program for a computer is not patentable if it does not have the potential to cause a "technical effect", by now understood as a material effect.

Substantive law regarding the patentability of software and computer-implemented inventions, case law interpreting the legal provisions, are different under different jurisdictions. Software patents under multilateral treaties: Software patents under TRIPs Agreement Software patents under the European Patent Convention Computer programs and the Patent Cooperation TreatySoftware patents under national laws: Software patents under United States patent law Software patents under United Kingdom patent law In Australia, there is no particular exclusion for patents relating to software; the subject matter of an invention is patentable in Australia, if it is a manner of manufacture within the meaning of section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies. The High Court of Australia has refrained from ruling on the precise definition of manner of manufacture stating that any such attempt is bound to fail for the policy reason of encouraging national development in fields that may be unpredictable. In assessing whether an invention is a manner of manufacture, the High Court has relied on the inquiry of whether the subject of the claims defining the invention has as its end result an artificially created state of affairs.

In a decision of the Federal Court of Australia, on the patentability of an improved method of representing curved images in computer graphics displays, it was held that the application of selected mathematical methods to computers may involve steps which are foreign to the normal use of computers and hence amount to a manner of manufacture. In another unanimous decision by the Full Federal Court of Australia, an invention for methods of storing and retrieving Chinese characters to perform word processing was held to be an artificially created state of affairs and within the concept of a manner of manufacture. In a recent decision on the patentability of a computer implemented method of generating an index based on selection and weighing of data based on certain criterion, the Full Federal Court of Australia reaffirmed that mere methods and plans are not manners of manufacture; the Full Court went on to hold that the use of a computer to implement a scheme did not contribute to the invention or the artificial effect of the invention.

The subject matter of the invention was held to be an abstract idea and not a manner of manufacture within the meaning of the term in the Patents Act. The same Full Federal Court in another decision regarding the patentability of an invention regarding a method and system for assessing an individual’s competency in relation to certain criterion, reiterated that a business method or mere scheme were per se are not patentable. In principle, computer software is still a valid patentable subject matter in Australia. But, in circumstances where patents have been sought over software to implement abstract ideas or business methods, the courts and the Commissioner of Patents have resisted granting patent protection to such applications both as a matter of statutory interpretation and policy. In Canada, courts have held that the use of a computer alone neither lends, nor reduces patentability of an invention. However, it is the position of the Canadian Patent Office that where a computer is an "essential element" of a patent's claims, the claimed invention is patent

The Weirdos are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California. They formed in 1976, split-up in 1981, re-grouped in 1986 and have remained semi-active since. Critic Mark Deming calls them "quite one of the best and brightest American bands of punk's first wave." The band was formed in 1976 by singer John Denney and his guitarist brother Dix using the band names the Barbies and the Luxurious Adults. The Weirdos were a 1950s-inspired hard rock and roll band that, like the Ramones in New York City, predated the UK punk scene. While trying to distance themselves from the genre name "punk", created in New York the band, in the words of John Denney, "just kinda became more like this punk ROCK N ROLL type thing and we kinda went with it because the fans wanted it, they wore us down and we just said'OK, fine! We're similar to the Ramones. Whatever you say.'"In a 1990 Flipside interview, John Denney listed the Ramones, New York Dolls and Iggy Pop as fundamental musical inspirations, adding: "When we saw the Ramones in'76, we had short hair and we were playing fast music like that in late 1975 in small venues and halls but the Ramones made us decide to go for it more.

We came before the Sex Pistols and The Damned. They may have been our peers but we had a set of songs in 1975 which were sort of Ramones meets Iggy Pop's Stooges influenced punk songs. Well before any of the UK bands started cloning America's punk sound and before any of the UK albums were released. I always felt we were a true garage punk band..." Denney claimed that the band's name dated from the early part of the 1970s and referred to his countercultural short hair, at a time when long hair on men was the fashion of the day. "In 1974 according to some left over hippies, I looked like a lobotomy, hippies thought I was weird," Denney said. "A few months when we formed, the rest of the band got short cropped hair too. "We were all weird we were considered weirdos". By the beginning of 1977, the Weirdos were able to pack clubs as a headlining band. Known for their zany stage costumes and antics, the band helped shape the vigorous and experimental early Los Angeles punk scene and served as an inspiration to a crop of new bands.

John Denney recalled: "We had our own sound. It was apart from New York or London.... We were staunchly against safety pins, we tried to parody punk rock at first. We did happy faces onstage as a joke sometimes, the exact opposite of what New York was doing. We were just thumbing our noses at everything. Everything was a joke. Nonetheless, we were still serious about rocking." The Weirdos' first release was a 7-inch EP, "Destroy All Music," released in 1977 on Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records, it was followed by the 1978 single "We Got the Neutron Bomb," released on the Los Angeles punk label Dangerhouse. The band released two 12" EPs in 1979 and 1980; the band were critical of some of their recordings and shady engineers, with John Denney characterizing the 1979-80 period as "a big botch job" marked by a series of "aborted recording sessions." It was not until 1991 that a first volume of early recordings would be remixed by the band for release by Frontier Records as a compilation album, Weird World - Volume One 1977-1981.

More than another decade would pass before a long-planned second compilation album of early tracks would see the light of day, issued by Frontier in 2003 as We Got The Neutron Bomb - Weird World Volume Two 1977-1989. The Denney brothers were the only constant members, though guitarist/bassist Cliff Roman, bassist Dave Trout and Bruce Moreland, drummer Nickey "Beat" Alexander were long-term Weirdos; the Weirdos broke up in 1981. Cliff Martinez, who drummed for the band, went on to join Red Hot Chili Peppers, playing on the latter's first two albums. Dix Denney was close to becoming a member of the Chili Peppers. However, after many practices with Denney, things didn't work out and he was replaced by guitarist Jack Sherman. LA-based rock band Symbol Six stated that the Weirdos were one of their biggest formative influences, covered "The Hideout'" which appeared on their self-titled 2013 album on Dr. Strange Records creating a tribute video for the song that honored the Weirdos; the Weirdos have reunited several times, beginning in 1990.

The resulting first full-length studio album, issued that year by Frontier, was an effort to "re-establish ourselves as contemporary," according to John Denney. A 2004 reunion included Circle Jerks bassist Zander Schloss and the Skulls drummer Sean Antillon in the lineup. Another reformed edition of the Weirdos, featuring the Denney brothers and Devo drummer Jeff Friedl, appeared at the Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival in Las Vegas on May 25, 2013, followed by additional 2013-2014 shows in California and Austin, as well as an appearance at the Dangerhouse Records Night concert on November 29, 2014 at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. In 2016, Bruce Moreland, the bassist from the 1978 version of the Weirdos, rejoined the band. Condor Live on Radio "Destroy All Music" 7" EP "We Got the Neutron Bomb" 7" single "Skateboards to Hell" 7" single as Dix Denney and John Denney Who? What? When? Where? Why? 12" EP Action-Design 12" EP "Life of Crime" 7" single "Message from the Underworld" 7" single "Do the Dance" 7" single Weird World - Volume One 1977-1981 We

Stewart McGlashan was a Scottish sculptor and mason, responsible for creating the company Stewart McGlashen which flourished from 1842 to 1974. He was responsible for devising a series of machines capable of creating polished granite for the first time, capable of carving intricate designs and fast. At his time he was not held in high esteem by sculptors. Despite not being "hand-carved" the artistry value of his work is exceptionally high, he was fond of the use of pink and red granites rather than the typical grey granites. His work is done as a single piece of granite, except in unusual pieces such as the Dean Cemetery pyramid, his work was in high demand and changed the face of cemetery design adding immeasurably the durability of monuments. He was born in Campbeltown in western Scotland on 17 November 1807, the son of James McGlashen or McGlashan, a builder. In 1842 he set up a monumental mason business at the entrance to the newly opened Southern Necropolis in Glasgow, living at that time at 81 Lawmoor Place, nearby to the south.

In 1846 he moved to Edinburgh and set up a yard north of the entrance to Dean Cemetery. He was living at Canonmills Bridge where he had an office; this was more publicly visible, in theory served Warriston Cemetery in the north of the city. By 1865 he was living in a house at 6 Huntly Street, close to the Canonmills yard, he brought Stewart McGlashan into the firm around this time, creating McGlashan & Son. From 1881 the spelling of the company changed to McGlashen. From around 1875 they had a sister company the Edinburgh Stone Company, he died of heart disease at home 1 Eyre Place in Canonmills, Edinburgh on 9 September 1873. He is buried in Warriston Cemetery; the modest granite stone is hard to access. In 1898 the company opened a third yard at 8 Grange Road serving Grange Cemetery. Stewart McGlashan Jr was buried in Warriston Cemetery, his grave is marked by a "typical" McGlashan. The company became a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty in 1974; the Canonmills office and yard on Canonmills Bridge survived until 2019 when they were demolished for a housing development.

In 1833 he married Mary Buchanan at the Barony Church in Glasgow. They had at least nine children. Dramatic pyramid to Andrew Rutherfurd, Lord Rutherfurd to a design by William Henry Playfair Monument to Major General William Gairdner, Dean Cemetery Monument to Rev Francis Gillies, Dean Cemetery Monument to John Cunningham, Warriston Cemetery Drinking fountain in Edinburgh Castle Monument to Lt John Irving of the Franklin Expedition in Dean Cemetery including low relief by William Brodie Monument to Dr Daniel Richmond, Woodside Cemetery in Paisley Monument to Thomas Glen, Woodside Cemetery in Paisley Monument slab to Robert the Bruce inside Dunfermline Abbey Memorial to Catherine Watson, North Berwick Memorial to Scottish-American solidiers in the American Civil War, Old Calton Burial Ground including statue of Abraham Lincoln by George Edwin Bissell Monument to James Brown Howard, Dean Cemetery Monument to James Wilson of the Scottish Fisheries, Warriston Cemetery Monument to William Wallace in Robroyston Monument to the Scottish Horse Regiment, Edinburgh Castle Esplanade Boer War Memorial in Dunfermline Abbey

A closed-ended question refers to any question for which a researcher provides research participants with options from which to choose a response. Closed-ended questions are sometimes phrased as a statement. A closed-ended question contrasts with an open-ended question, which cannot be answered with specific information. Examples of close-ended questions which may elicit a "yes" or "no" response include: Were you born in 2020? Is Lyon the capital of France? Did you steal the money? Variants of the above close-ended questions which possess specific responses are: On what day were you born? What is the capital of France? Where did you steal the money? At the same time, there are closed-ended questions which are sometimes impossible to answer with a yes or no without confusion, for example: "Have you stopped taking heroin?" or "Who told you to take heroin?". A study by the University of Cincinnati found 20 to 40 percent of Americans will provide an opinion when they do not have one because of social pressure, using context clues to select an answer they believe will please the questioner.

A classic example of this phenomenon was the 1947 study of the fictional Metallic Metals Act. Some in the field of education argue that closed-ended questions are broadly speaking "bad" questions, they are questions that are asked to obtain a specific answer and are therefore good for testing knowledge. It is argued that open-ended questions are preferable because they open up discussion and enquiry. Peter Worley argues; this is based on Worley’s central arguments that there are two different kinds of open and closed questions: grammatical and conceptual. He argues that educational practitioners should be aiming for questions that are "grammatically closed, but conceptually open". For example, in standard parlance, "is it right to lie?" would be regarded as a closed question: it elicits a yes–no response. However, it is conceptually open. Any initial yes–no answer to it can be "opened up" by the questioner, inviting elaboration and enquiry; this grammatically closed but cognitively open style of questioning, Worley argues, "gives the best of both worlds: the focus and specificity of a closed question and the inviting, elaborating character of an open question".

Closed questions require "opening up" strategies to ensure that conceptually open questions can fulfil their educational potential. Worley's structural and semantic distinction between open and closed questions is integral to his pedagogical invention "Open Questioning Mindset". OQM refers to the development, in educators, of an open attitude towards the process of learning and the questioning at the heart of that process, it is a mind-set, applicable to all subject areas and all pedagogical environments. Teachers who develop an Open Questioning Mindset listen for the cognitive content of student's contributions and looks for ways to use what is given for learning opportunities, whether right, relevant or irrelevant. OQM encourages a style of pedagogy, it provides teachers with the tools to move beyond what Worley calls "guess what's in my head" teaching, that relies on closed and leading questions. A-not-A question Multiple choice Test Yes–no question Howard Schuman & Stanley Presser. "The Open and Closed Question".

American Sociological Review. 44: 692–712. Doi:10.2307/2094521. JSTOR 2094521. Worley, Peter. 100 Ideas for Primary Teachers: Questioning. London: Bloomsbury Education. ISBN 9781472957412

Benjamin Lo-Pinto is a Seychellois former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. Lo-Pinto has collected two medals from the All-Africa Games, represented Seychelles at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where he became the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. Lo-Pinto established his swimming history for Seychelles at the 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he earned a silver medal in the 100 m backstroke, bronze in the 200 m backstroke; because of his stellar performance during the Games, he was named the Sportsman of the Year by the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Lo-Pinto competed only in the men's 100 m backstroke, he achieved a FINA B-cut of 58.66 from the All-Africa Games. Swimming from start to finish in heat one, he raced to the second seed in 58.66, nearly a full second behind leader Alexandru Ivlev of Moldova. Lo-Pinto failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed forty-seventh overall in the prelims

Henry Higgs was a British civil servant and historian of economic thought. Higgs joined the War Office as a Lower Division Clerk in 1882. From there he moved to the Postmaster General's Office in 1884 when he began taking courses at University College London, he received an LLB degree at the latter in 1890. He went to Treasury in 1899. Following the end of the Second Boer War in June 1902, Higgs travelled to Natal to examine the working of the Civil Service of that colony on behalf of its government, he stayed in South Africa for six months from October 1902 until late Spring 1903. He was appointed Private Secretary of then-Prime Minister Henry Campbell Bannerman in 1905 serving for three years before returning to Treasury in 1908. Higgs was a founding member of the British Economic Association in 1890 and contributed to securing a Royal Charter for it in 1902, followed by a name change to the Royal Economic Society, he was Secretary for the organization from 1892 to 1905 and assistant editor of The Economic Journal from 1896 to 1905 during the tenure of F.

Y. Edgeworth as editor. Among other subjects, Higgs wrote on the economist Richard Cantillon and edited what became the standard version of Cantillon's Essai sur la nature du commerce en général, he wrote on the Physiocrats, the financial system of the United Kingdom, financial reform. He compiled a historical bibliography on economic thought. Higgs was an early supporter of and contributor to Dictionary of Political Economy, Inglis Palgrave, ed. to which he contributed 19 entries. He edited the only edition of the Dictionary not edited by Palgrave, adding Palgrave's name to the title and penning 40 more entries. Clara Collet, John Maynard Keynes: Obituary: Henry Higgs. In: The economic journal; the journal of the Royal Economic Society. Oxford 1940, pp. 546–561. ISSN 1468-0297