The Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE; Mongolian: Монголын Хөрөнгийн Бирж/Mongolyn Khöröngiin Birj) is Mongolia's sole stock exchange. It is based in Ulaanbaatar and was established in January 1991 by the decree of the Mongolian Government to privatize state-owned assets.

The MSE has seen rapid growth since 2006. In 2010, the MSE was the world's best-performing stock market after an increase of 121 percent. MSE ranked the second best performing stock exchange in the world with 57.8 percent increase after Venezuela Caracas Stock Exchange, which increased by 80.8 percent. As of September 2022, it has 180 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of 4.9 trillion MNT (US$1.5 billion).

History

Role in privatisation of state assets
The Mongolian Stock Exchange was established in 1991 as a vehicle to implement the government's plan for privatisation of large state-owned enterprises. In an attempt to ensure an equitable distribution of assets, the Mongolian government chose to instantiate a voucher-based scheme; one blue voucher worth MNT7,000 was issued to every citizen born before 31 May 1991 for the purchase of shares in large enterprises, and a nationwide network of 29 brokerage houses was established to take their orders. Red vouchers worth MNT3,000 were also issued for the purchase of the assets of small enterprises which would not be listed on the exchange; unlike the blue vouchers, these could be traded in secondary markets. Initially, stock exchange officials hoped to privatise 80% of state assets, but, on 7 June 1991, Government Resolution No. 170 announced that the state would retain a stake of 50% in some large enterprises; mining, energy, transportation, communications, and water supply companies were excluded from the privatisation scheme entirely.

Auctions officially began on 7 February 1992; shares in three companies were auctioned off. The first day's turnover was 16,000 shares, valued at US$15,000; that grew by over twelve times to 200,000 shares in March. Auctions continued to be held weekly; regional brokers collected vouchers and share orders from individuals, and submitted bids through their floor traders in Ulaanbaatar. Communication was often accomplished by modem. Trading hours were restricted to two hours on one day per week, expanding to two five-hour days per week in July; the thirty exchange officials used the remainder of their working time to prepare infrastructure and legal recommendations for trading in the secondary market. By October, 121 enterprises had been floated on the exchange.

Mongolia soon boasted the world's highest rate of share ownership, as more and more people redeemed their vouchers for shares. Family members were permitted to transfer their vouchers to each other, so not everyone became a stockholder, but the peak number of shareholders was estimated at one million, or 43% of the population at the time. In the end, a total of 475 companies worth MNT17.33 billion were privatised by auctions and listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange, including MNT5.04 billion worth of manufacturing companies, MNT4.09 billion of agricultural companies, MNT1.27 billion of construction companies, MNT1.25 billion of state farms, MNT580 million of trading companies, MNT520 million of transport companies, and MNT280 million of companies in other sectors. Some sources suggest that illegal trading in vouchers occurred in advance of the privatisations; however, statistics from the exchange itself show that the number of shareholders each enterprise initially emerged with corresponded roughly to the number of shareholders one would expect if each shareholder had spent all his vouchers to purchase shares in a single enterprise. This initially led to a very equitable distribution of shares; individuals found themselves unable to buy more shares, or sell the ones they already had, until the government passed a new securities law.

Primary and Secondary market

Secondary trading finally began on 28 August 1995, open to both domestic and international investors. Bids were placed on 430 out of 475 listed stocks, and trading occurred in 16 stocks; total turnover was 12,776 shares worth MNT2.2 million tugriks (US$4,850). The largest gain was in Sor, which rose by 19% from MNT580 to MNT690. However, the secondary market quickly exposed the weakness of many of the newly privatised companies; share prices remained depressed throughout 1996, and the number of MSE-listed companies contracted from 475 to 402. Market capitalisation stabilised around MNT15 billion in 1997, with a daily turnover of 80,000 to 300,000 from MNT16 - 80 million. Furthermore, many small shareholders sold their shares, allowing a few domestic and foreign investors to gain majority holdings in the remaining listed companies. The total number of shareholders had shrunk to a mere 135,000 by 1997. One public offering of additional shares from an already-listed enterprise was carried out in 1996, but the regulators refused to give approval for initial public offerings by new private companies, due to the lack of regulation and experience in underwriting. In 1998, the exchange moved to electronic trading. In 2000, the exchange also began to offer trading facilities for Mongolian government bonds. As of December 2003, market capitalisation in local terms had expanded to MNT52 billion, which was still a mere 5% of GDP. Only 30 of the companies listed on the exchange were actively traded.

In addition to note that in 1999, the Top-75 index was introduced to the market based on the performance of the first 75 companies which ranked by their market capitalization and average daily trading volume.

Government bonds, rather than stocks, came to be the Mongolian Stock Exchange's biggest business as soon as they began being auctioned through the exchange in November 2000; previously, they had been sold directly to banks. The following year, the Barilga Corporation, a construction company, became the first to sell corporate bonds through the MSE, with a US$4.4 million issue. In 2004, bond trading accounted for 96% of total securities turnover on the exchange. By that same year, the stock market had recovered somewhat as well, but retail investors remained suspicious of trading due to volatility and lack of transparency; MSE officials estimated that 80% of listed companies were majority-owned by private individuals. On the other hand, the first IPO was launched in 2005 when "Mongol Shiltgeen" LLC went public by issuing 1 million shares offered to the public and registered at the Mongolian Stock Exchange. By February 2007, trading hours had expanded to one hour on each weekday. Weekly stock turnover at 7 September 2007 was 1.8 million shares valued at MNT1.7 billion, while 50,000 government bonds traded for a total consideration of MNT4.8 billion. Furthermore, the number of registered shareholders bounced back to 483,100, three-and-a-half times the figure a decade earlier, and nearly half the peak number seen in 1995 after privatisations had completed. Total market capitalisation as of September 2006 was MNT97 billion (US$83 million).

Although the Mongolian Stock Exchange used to be the world's smallest stock exchange by market capitalisation in 2006, it has become the world's best performing stock market in 2010. It was the second best performing stock market in 2011. Its market capitalization quadrupled to $2 billion in end of 2011 from 2008.

The Securities Market Law was approved on 24 May 2013 by the Parliament. Following the law's passage, MNT500.0 million worth of corporate debt securities were publicly offered through the Mongolian Stock Exchange between 2013 and 2015.

On 13 October 2015, Mongolian Stock Exchange became a self-regulatory organization in accordance with the meeting of the Financial Regulatory Commission. Having the status of a self-regulatory organization, the Mongolian Stock Exchange is able to regulate its member securities companies and listed Joint Stock Companies by integrated standards and fine companies that fail to meet regulatory requirements.

As part of the EFF program of the IMF, the government increased the personal income tax rate from zero to 10% on interest income earned from bank deposits, effective 1 April 2017. This resulted in a surge of demand for tax-free, high-interest government bonds and increased interest in the domestic capital market among retail investors. However, as part of the IMF program, LCY government bond issuance was temporarily halted by the MOF in October 2017. In the absence of LCY government bond issuance, local investors started investing in the domestic corporate bonds market, including privately placed corporate debt instruments. On 29 June 2017, the largest ever publicly offered corporate debt instrument (MNT6.0 billion) was issued by "Suu" Joint Stock Company. The Suu Bonds were also traded actively in the secondary market, with trading volume totaling MNT4.8 billion since the start of its secondary market trading which leads the market turnover reaching MNT859.2 billion, the highest in its 26 years of history and 57.2% higher than the previous record fixed in 2015.

MSE A and MSE B indices were introduced to the market starting from January 2, 2018. More than that, in connection with the dual-listing application received from the company which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and up to 4,000,000 shares worth 1.2 million Canadian dollars were registered in Tier 3 of the Mongolian Stock Exchange on 4 April 2018. Middle of 2018, "Mandal Daatgal" JSC and "Ard Daatgal" JSC, top insurance companies of Mongolia, were first registered its securities in the history of the Mongolian stock market, paving the way to increase the participation of domestic institutional investors. These achievements led to support Mongolian Stock Exchange continuously breaking the record of secondary market turnover.

In 2019 between February to May, Major non-banking financial institutions of Mongolia, Invescore NBFI and Ard Credit NBFI, registered their shares on the Mongolian Stock Exchange which increased the market interest.  In 2019, the Mongolian Stock Exchange registered 2 more new companies which are "Tumen shuvuut" JSC, and "Monos Khuns" JSC. The IPO of these 4 companies were oversubscribed respectively, which shows a strong market interest during the year. Also, these 4 companies raised a total of MNT 42.5 billion on the primary market which was the record high primary market turnover in its 28 years of history.

Mongolian capital market was going through a rapid transformation and the Mongolian Stock Exchange was continuously breaking the historical record in equity trading turnover. 'Closed-End Fund Units Listing Rules' were approved. These Rules would introduce the new product to the Mongolian capital market, allowing funds to offer their units to the public while investors diversify their risks to improve the market liquidity and expand the stock market.

On January 29, 2020, the Mongolian Stock Exchange introduced delivery versus payment (DVP) settlement into the Mongolian capital market to update the securities settlement system to international standards. The introduction of DvP with a T+2 finality arrangement will aid to lower trading costs, improve market liquidity, and create a better market environment for both domestic and international investors.

On August 24, 2020, the National Privatization Fund, Mongolia's first closed-end mutual fund which was established by the "Ard Management Securities Firm" LLC was the first investment fund listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange. The Fund was oversubscribed by MNT 1 billion and raised MNT 5 billion on its closing date of October 16 from over 2.5 thousand private and institutional investors.

The Asset-Backed Securities Listing Rules was adopted by the Mongolian Stock Exchange on February 7, 2020, and the Mongolian Stock Exchange registered its first asset-backed securities on November 12, 2020. Asset backed securities, issued by "Invescore Active SPC" LLC were listed on the MSE, has become the first ABS to be offered publicly in Mongolian capital market.

On January 19, 2021, during bell ceremony of 30th anniversary of establishment of Mongolian Stock Exchange and the capital market, the capital market historical exhibition hall opened by Mr.Khurelsukh, Prime Minister and Mr.Khurelbaatar, Minister of Finance, were the first guests of the exhibition. The exhibit hall acquires the historical exhibit including the first decree of the establishment of the Mongolian Stock Exchange, historical documents and equipment, clothing, and souvenirs used in the past.

The Mongolian Stock Exchange cooperated with the Financial Regulatory Commission and other infrastructure organizations in order to bring the domestic capital market to international market status. Thus, in September 2022, FTSE Russell one of the leading global providers of benchmarking, analytics, and data solutions for investors, notified that Mongolia meets all of the FTSE quality of Markets criteria for a Frontier market classification and officially approved Mongolia to the 'Frontier market' classification effective from September 2023.

In December 2022 Mongolian Stock Exchange started the publicization process of state-owned companies and offered 34 percent of its shares to the public and became a public company.

The "Mongolian Stock Exchange" JSC was granted a special license to operate the activities of a mining commodities exchange on June 30, 2023, and became the first mining commodities exchange in Mongolia.

The Law on Mining Products Exchange was approved by the Parliament of Mongolia and is effective June 30, 2023, to organize the open, transparent, and fair trading of mining products, to create opportunities for real market prices to be established, and to increase the industry's contribution to the country's economic growth.

Until the enforcement day of the law on mining products exchange, the government has been instructed to conduct coal trading through the Mongolian Stock Exchange according to the "Rules on Electronic Trading of Export Coal " which was approved by the Government of Mongolia on 14 December 2022.

Physical location

The Mongolian Stock Exchange is located in the former Children's Cinema building near Sükhbaatar Square, next to the headquarters of Mongolia Telecom Company and across from the Mongolian parliament's buildings. It was refurbished at a cost of US$4.5 million prior to the official start of trading; seats and screens were removed, a trading floor was created and equipped with computers, and automatic sinks were installed in the bathrooms. The building itself is a pink-and-white neo-classical-style structure. One corner of the building has been partitioned off to serve as an internet cafe. Due to the color of its building, the Financial Times correspondent, Leslie Hook, defined it the pink house of equities. Since then, the building has been painted gray.

People and relationship-building
The Mongolian Stock Exchange has been praised for their approach to customer relationship management. To commemorate their 16th anniversary, they organized a sports day, in which broker/dealers and the exchange fielded teams and competed against each other. They were also described as "punching above its weight" in its international knowledge-sharing efforts. It joined the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges in 1998, and, in June 2006, formed a partnership with the Korea Exchange. The chief executive officer of the Mongolian Stock Exchange visited the Korea Stock Exchange in July 2007; officials from the Korea Stock Exchange paid a return visit the following month.

The Mongolian Stock Exchange sealed a deal with the London Stock Exchange Group to modernize the Mongolian Stock Exchange under an agreement to make it at a level of world standard.

The Mongolian Stock Exchange is expanding its foreign relations and signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the Budapest Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange in May and June 2023 respectively to cooperate on developing equity, debt, and investment fund products, improving corporate governance, organizing joint research projects and seminars, and developing platforms and joint products.

Trading and technology

The Mongolian Stock Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday from 10:00 am to 01:00 pm UTC+8, with the exception of holidays declared by the Mongolian Government. The Mongolian Stock Exchange divides its listed companies into Board I, II and III to appropriately appraise and classify companies in order to increase liquidity and quality of listings.

Within the framework of "Master Service Agreement" experts from Millennium IT Software Limited, (a subsidiary of London Stock Exchange group) installed Millennium IT integrated trading platform, which consists of Millennium Exchange, Millennium CSD, Millennium Surveillance, and Millennium Depositary systems at the Mongolian Stock Exchange and Securities Clearing House and Central Depositary /SCHCD/ in 2012.

According to "MSE securities Index Calculation Rule", the securities basket of the MSE Top-20 index, the main indicator of the Mongolian stock market, is renewed once a year. It is calculated based on the market capitalization and average daily average trading value of the top 20 securities listed on the Mongolia Stock Exchange. See: MSE TOP-20 Index

Timeline

18 January 1991: Pre-government decree No.22, the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) was established in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
7 February 1992: The MSE started its primary market trading.
28 August 1995: The MSE started its secondary market trading.
25 October 1996: The first trading day for government bonds.
1 October 1998: The MSE joined the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges as a full member
8 June 2001: The MSE started to trade corporate bonds.
3 December 2002: Memorandum of Understanding on Mutual Cooperation with Taiwan Stock Exchange was signed.
26 March 2003: The MSE was reorganized as state owned Shareholding Company.
31 October 2005: "Training center" of capital market was established at MSE.
1 January 2006: Finance Regulatory Committee of Mongolia was established.
15 June 2006: Memorandum of Understanding with Korea Exchange was signed.
19 July 2006: Memorandum of Understanding with Istanbul Stock Exchange was signed.
5 March 2008: The MSE established "Information transmission" agreement with Bloomberg.
10 April 2008: The Mongolian Stock Exchange became a member of the Asia Pacific Stock Exchanges Association
10 April 2008: Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore Stock Exchange was signed.
15 May 2008: Memorandum of Understanding with Tokyo Stock Exchange was signed.
17 Mar 2009: Memorandum of Understanding with Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange was signed.
31 August 2010: Market value of MSE, exceeded MNT 1 trillion.
7 April 2011: Mongolian Stock Exchange and State Property Committee of Mongolia signed the "Strategic Partnership Agreement" with London Exchange Group.
02 August 2012: "Millennium IT" integrated system of trading, settlement, surveillance and depository introduced into Mongolian capital market.
2013: Mongolian Capital Market included in FTSE Watch List for further review the possible inclusion of Mongolia as a Frontier market.
2013: The Parliament of Mongolia passed new Securities Law within accordance of international securities law standard.
28 July 2014: MSE ALL index started being calculated.
02 December 2015: Mongolian Stock Exchange became a self-regulated organization.
2015: The trading value of Mongolian Stock Exchange reached an all-time high of MNT560 billion.
05 January 2016: Process of privatization of state-owned properties went through Mongolian Stock Exchange started.
29 June 2017: Mongolia's largest-to-date corporate bond was issued successfully
31 December 2017: The highest market turnover
02 January 2018: MSE A and MSE В indices were introduced
04 April 2018: MSE listed the first foreign company listed on the TSX.
May - June 2018: The first insurance companies were listed.
31 December 2018: Secondary market turnover peaked
February – May 2019: Mongolian largest NBFIs became public
28 June 2019: 'Closed-End Fund Units Listing Rules' were approved
31 December 2019: 'CAPITAL MARKETS OPEN DAY' EVENT HELD IN RURAL PROVINCES
31 December 2019: The highest primary market turnover
31 March 2020: Shipment to DVP with T+2 finality system
24 August 2020: The first investment fund listing
12 November 2020: First asset-backed securities listing
19 January 2021: Capital market historical exhibition hall opens
30 June 2021: The Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Mongolian Stock Exchange collaborated successfully to organize an open webinar to promote the Mongolian stock market.
29 September 2022: Mongolia is included in FTSE Russell's frontier market classification.
26 December 2022: "Mongolian Stock Exchange" JSC offered its additional shares to the public.

See also
List of companies listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange
List of East Asian stock exchanges
Ulaanbaatar Securities Exchange

References

External links

 Mongolian Stock Exchange

1991 establishments in Mongolia
Stock exchanges in Mongolia

Mongolian Stock Exchange


Makran () is a partly-desert coastal strip in the south of Balochistan, in Iran and Pakistan. It is along the coast of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. The Persian phrase Mahi khoran, fish-eaters (Mahi = fish + khor = eat) is believed to be the origin of the modern word Makran.

The narrow coastal plain rises very rapidly into several mountain ranges. The coastline is 1,000 km, 750 km of this is in Pakistan. The climate is very dry with very little rainfall.

History
According to the book Documents on the Persian Gulf's name " and ENCYCLOPEDIA Iranika   Makran also Mekran and Mokrān  historically in persian and Arabic text was a vast area from Hormuz strait to the Sind River some mentioned as far as gujarat region.also the body of water in that region was called Macran Sea.The name Makrān has found a popular etymology in māhi-ḵᵛorān "fish eaters," but more probable is a connection with the name Magan,or Maka of the Old Persian.
Until the early Islamic period, eastern Makrān at least must have been within the sphere of Indian religion and culture.
On his way homewards from the Far East in 1290, Marco Polo (II, pp. 334-35) sailed along the Makrān coast, calling it KisMacoran (i.e. Tiz Makrān), considering it as the last province of India and attributing to it a ruler of its own. In the early 14th century, Ebn Baṭṭuṭa (II, pp. 341-2) records that, after the death of the Il-Khanid sultan (i.e. after 736/1335), a certain Malek Dinār took power in Makrān. It was during these centuries that Makrān was colonized by Baluch tribesmen moving southeastwards from Persia, so that it is today mostly Baluch-speaking. The boundary between Persian Makrān and that part coming within the British Indian province of Baluchistan (the easternmost part forming the Native State of Las Bela) and after 1947 within Pakistan, was demarcated by an Anglo-Persian Boundary Commission in 1870-72.

Notes

Landforms of Pakistan
Sistan and Baluchestan Province
Landforms of Iran

Makran


The League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) was a circle of Canadian socialists officially formed in 1932. The group advocated for social and economic reformation as well as political education. The formation of the LSR was provoked by events such as the Great Depression and the completion of World War One as well as increased industrialization and urbanization.. The league esteemed 'rational moralism' as the ideology that could be utilized and applied to prevent suffering in Canada. The league aimed to act as an independent supplementary force influencing public policy reform in Canada during this tumultuous period. Working with both intellectuals and politicians, the league assisted in the creation of centralized social welfare and national assistance schemes. The LSR disbanded formally in 1942 during the Second World War.

Origins and ideology

The Canadian economy had boomed during the late 1920s and showed no sign of weakness, but during the 1930s the Great Depression swept across Canada and provoked mass unemployment, and this incited the LSR into action. The LSR believed that the roots of the Depression were laissez-faire capitalism and governance and that the "free" market was anything but. Politicians worked closely with businesses, securing interest-free loans, developing tariffs, and managing labor disputes; in short: manipulating markets. A small group of political businessmen controlled public policy and economic development and guided the centralization of finance and power into private hands. Widespread unemployment marked the Depression and served to underscore financial inequity. In the eyes of the LSR, the problem facing Canada was not an economic depression, it was a corrupt political economy.

Faced with what they believed to be profiteering politicians, a group of men and women were united in their resolve that this could not stand. Three key influences stood out among the members of this group: religious affiliation, maturation in an environment of war and urbanization, and intellectual cultivation in the university environment. These characteristics defined the group's ideals.

Believing the existing system was not practicable, the league set about promoting a new system. The solution to ending this and all depressions would be a planned economy, and the transformation of Canada from a royal commonwealth into a socialist commonwealth. To achieve this transformation, the league planned to perform research, and apply the results toward public education and public policy. However, because the LSR believed that the system was not only corrupt but corruptive, the league planned to lay its foundations beyond politics. Public education would take the form of books and lectures, and influence over policy would be achieved through the institutionalization of expert intellectuals. Politicians would call upon the league's extra-political organization to perform research, and recommend policy. In this way, the league hoped to minimize partisanship, and influence government policy writ large. Even so, the ideals of the LSR found them working closest with one political party, in particular, the avowedly socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF).

Political economy and the Great Depression

The Great Depression resulted in a protracted period of mass unemployment, and it was the impact unemployment had on Canadians that motivated the LSR into action. National unemployment peaked in the first half of 1933 at 32 percent; but 32 percent was only the average, in some towns unemployment reached nearly 50 percent. The LSR were roused, as they faced the ravages of unemployment in their classrooms, churches, and offices; "Everywhere hopelessness. A country without a purpose ... An industrious and intelligent people going to waste in idleness and despair."

For the LSR, the Depression was the inexorable result of laissez-faire philosophy. This philosophy had spread since the Act of Union in 1840, which began a transition from power structures that favored aristocracy to structures that favored business. The responsible government arrived shortly after the union and shifted influence from the governor to ministers. Powers that had previously been focused on the governor, became divided among ministers. No meaningful administrative structures were implemented to ensure that ministers remained responsive to the public, and ministers aligned themselves with capitalists. Free market governance became the consort of free-market capitalization.  Legislation regulating conflicts of interest did not exist, and politicians worked openly with business. One former prime minister made the marriage of business with politics strikingly clear when he stated "my politics are railroads." The developmental history of Canada's political economy was central in the analysis of the LSR, and they later observed that "[m]onopolies are not an unlucky accident in our economic system, they are our economic system."

Previous economic fluctuations had not created the need for federal unemployment programs, and policy and tradition dictated that assistance was a local issue, because traditionally it had been locally tractable. Under the British North America Act of 1867 (BNA), the government received most revenue collection powers, and provinces became responsible for social relief, education, and health care. However, 60 years had passed since the BNA, and this was a different economy. The National Policy dramatically increased prairie populations, and when Depression hit, the prairies, in particular, could not manage social relief, and, along with other provinces, asked for federal aid. Federal politicians believed free markets would rebalance themselves, and refused assistance. Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King refused to attempt relief, claiming it would endanger the national budget. Conservative Prime Minister Richard Bedford Bennett declared that provinces should reduce wasteful spending. Laissez-faire ideology underpinned the policies of Liberals and Conservatives alike. Provinces became disgruntled, relationships with Ottawa became strained, and so it was that the crisis of capitalism triggered a crisis of federalism. "Here was the proof that the [political economy] built by the businessman and the old party politician was defective. The men who had presided over the construction of a complex modern civilization apparently did not know how to keep it running smoothly."

Moralism, intellectualism, and elitism: foundations of the LSR

In November 1930, the problems of political economy were the focus of discussion for a group of "radically minded [professors]", organized by the University of Toronto historian Frank Underhill. At the same time in Montreal, the legal scholar F. R. Scott was preparing a book examining the same problems. In August 1931, the two men met and discovered they had developed a similar analysis; instability and depression were born of a capitalistic political economy, and any permanent solution would be born of democratic socialism. Underhill proposed the formation of a research organization, styled after the British Fabians, modified to suit Canada. The organization's ideas would be spread in two ways; directly into the public mind through local associations and literature, and directly into government through an institution of intellectual elites that politicians could requisition to perform research and recommend policy. Scott agreed. Underhill also believed a socialist political party would shortly appear, and that there "should be a group of intellectuals that could provide the new party with a coherent platform." The men returned home, and Underhill established a group in Toronto while Scott did the same in Montreal.

These groups shared one important belief; that the objective study of social science yielded an inescapable conclusion: scientific socialism. Theirs was a scholarly disposition, and shared intellectualism aroused an elitist camaraderie. Educational distinction provided the group with a sense they were distinguished from the public and public servants; that amongst all reformists, they alone possessed the expertise necessary to develop corrective policies. The result was a highly principled and elitist political reformism, however, this reformism was not solely rationalistic in origin.

The twin inclinations of intellectual solidarity and moral solidarity motivated these academics. They were endowed not only with higher education, but also a belief in a higher purpose. Moralism was important to the group and had been engendered through lifelong religious association. Though not all members remained religious in adulthood, most had been influenced by religion since their youth. A partial survey of the league's leading members reveals the following; Frank Underhill: Flavelle scholar, raised a Presbyterian; F. R. Scott: Rhodes scholar, son of an archdeacon; Eugene Forsey: Rhodes scholar, son of a Methodist clergyman; Eric A. Havelock: respected economist, Christian Socialist; David Lewis: Rhodes scholar, a secular Jew, but deeply influenced by the Social Gospel and the Jewish Labour Movement. Artists who were among its early members included Jean Palardy and Jori Smith, both of Montreal.

Three important commonalities stood out among the LSR's founding members. Religion imbued an indelible morality; war and urbanization prompted sober reflection on suffering and reform, and modern education in the social sciences produced a propensity for rational analysis and a deterministic bent.

Scott and Underhill's groups exchanged drafts for a manifesto, attempting to strike a balance between pragmatism and radicalism. Their goal was to motivate all Canadians to critically examine Canada's political economy, and because the group did not want radicalism scaring potential members away, they opted to avoid the inclusion of the one word that best explained their politics: socialism. Drafts were exchanged for many months, and eventually, a meeting was scheduled in Toronto, for February 23, 1932. Seventy-five men and women attended the meeting, ratified the manifesto, and discussed the selection of a name. The Montreal group suggested the "League for Economic Democracy", however, the winning moniker came from the Torontonians, and when proceedings concluded the League for Social Reconstruction was born.

Social planning: the CCF and the Royal Commission

Later in 1932, the socialist party Underhill predicted materialized as the CCF. The CCF were social democrats and held the same ideas as the LSR regarding state theory, and hence the CCF was the LSR's best option for access to parliament. The CCF was also the best option for another reason: J. S. Woodsworth, honorary president of the LSR, was also the leader of the CCF. Because the LSR had been established outside the political system, the question was how to structure the relationship between the league and the CCF on the stated goal of education, and it was not clear they would stay if the LSR became the organ of a political party. Woodsworth proposed a solution for members of the LSR who desired affiliation; CCF Clubs. Club membership brought affiliation, and LSR members could thus affiliate with the CCF independently of affiliation with the LSR. The LSR was thus able to move forward as an independent research organization.

To promote and improve their ideas, the league discussed political economy with intellectuals and politicians across the nation. The LSR believed that because the Depression was national, its solution would be national as well, and they found sympathetic analyses amongst the intellectual community. Intellectuals concerned with social reform began to contemplate national reform. Common ground between the LSR and intellectual elites provided a program for action. Intellectuals felt that they needed to convince Canadians that government should assume an interventionist role; financial and social policies should be implemented at the national level, and stability would flow top downwards. Such an arrangement was not however possible under the BNA, and accordingly, the constitution would require modification.

By the mid-1930s, many modern intellectuals found work in government, and political bodies began to seek advice from extra-parliamentary intellectuals. In 1935, extra-political intellectual elites were included in a national conference on Dominion-provincial relations, however, the conference's primary purpose was to stop the flow of federal money to provinces, which was not what intellectuals had in mind. The initiatives put into place after the conference proved unproductive, and the movement was transmuted into the Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations. The Commission was placed under the control of modern social scientists, including LSR member Frank Scott, and was instructed to provide recommendations for securing the economy and the federation. In 1940, the Commission reported that the Depression resulted from problems in the definition of the Canadian Dominion; the BNA had developed in the context of a wheat-timber-fish economy, and could not support Canada's mixed industrializing economy. Industrial growth had increased the complication of economic activity, but the political system had not made corresponding advancements. To solve the Depression, the taxation powers and fiscal responsibilities of the federal and provincial governments required readjustment. The government should control all unemployment insurance programs, assume all provincial debts, collect all income taxes, and make equalization payments to needy provinces.

Premiers met the Prime Minister in 1941 to discuss the recommendations, and with war raging in Europe, the Premiers agreed to the Commission's proposals. After the war, Prime Minister King was eager to preserve the government's new powers, and a separate agreement was reached with the provinces, making the Commission's recommendations into a permanent policy. Politicians of all stripes were eager to mitigate against the economic and social problems experienced after World War One, and acceded to the implementation of central planning measures. Reflecting on the Commission, historian Doug Owram noted that the report "was not so much the product of the public hearings as ... of the intellectual network of the 1930s... Indeed, the results of the study had been conceived even before its appointment." The report itself became a vehicle for sharing data in such a fashion that it supported the conclusions of the intellectuals who wrote it, with an eye towards converting its readers into advocates of centralization.

The ideas of the LSR proved instrumental in introducing successful social planning measures into government, however disenchantment with socialism had grown as World War Two approached, and the LSR itself was reduced to the point of dissolution. With CCF related activities expanding, the league finally disbanded in 1942. In the mid-1940s two members of the LSR held prominent positions within the CCF: Frank Scott became the National Chairman, and Professor George M. A. Grube became the president of the Ontario CCF.

Publications

The LSR made its views known through the magazine New Commonwealth (formerly the Farmer's Sun, publication of the United Farmers of Ontario until purchased by Graham Spry). The group further contributed to Canada's political and intellectual fields with two books, Social Planning for Canada (1935) and Democracy Needs Socialism (1938). Canadian Forum was saved from bankruptcy by the LSR, which was acquired in the journal in 1936 and continued its publication. With these texts, social and economic change policies were popularized.

See also
Douglas–Coldwell Foundation
New Democratic Party
Social democracy

Notes

References
Angus, H.F. "Social Planning For Canada. By the Research Committee of the League for Social Reconstruction (Eugene Forsey, J. King Gordon, Leonard Marsh, J. F. Parkinson, F. R. Scott, Graham Spry, F. H. Underhill) (Book Review)." Pacific Affairs 9, no. 3 (1936): 452-454. Chadwyck PAO Collection 2 (accessed January 23, 2009).

External links
Manifesto of the League for Social Reconstruction (1932)
Manifesto of the League for Social Reconstruction – Wikisource s:Manifesto of the league for social reconstruction

1931 establishments in Canada
Organizations disestablished in 1942
Political history of Canada
Political advocacy groups in Canada
Political and economic think tanks based in Canada
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Socialist think tanks

League for Social Reconstruction


The Nationale SIGINT Organisatie (NSO) was the Dutch signals intelligence (SIGINT) organisation, which was part of the Ministry of Defence, but worked for both the military intelligence and security agency MIVD as for its civilian counterpart AIVD.

The NSO was established in 2003, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks and became fully operational in 2007. Early 2014, the NSO merged into the newly created Joint Sigint Cyber Unit (JSCU).

The facilities of the NSO were a high frequency radio interception station in Eibergen in the Berkelland municipality, and a satellite ground station in Burum in the Kollumerland c.a. municipality. There are also some mobile SIGINT units which can be deployed at military operations abroad. The operation of both listening stations and the mobile units has been taken over by the JSCU.

References

External links

  Ministerie van Defensie (Rijksoverheid) Ministry of Defence

Signals intelligence agencies
Dutch intelligence agencies
Berkelland
Organisations based in Friesland

Nationale SIGINT Organisatie


BARX homeobox 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BARX1 gene.

Function

This gene encodes a member of the Bar subclass of homeobox transcription factors. Studies of the mouse and chick homolog suggest the encoded protein may play a role in developing teeth and craniofacial mesenchyme of neural crest origin. The protein may also be associated with differentiation of stomach epithelia. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008].

References

Further reading

Barx homeobox 1


The continental crust is the layer of granitic, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks which form the continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves.

It consists mostly of feldspar and other sialic rocks. It is less dense than the material of the Earth's mantle, which consists of mafic rock. Continental crust is also less dense than oceanic crust, though it is considerably thicker; mostly 35 to 40 km versus the average oceanic thickness of around 7–10 km. About 40% of the Earth's surface lies on-top of continental crust.

The continental crust is separated from the oceanic crust by the continental margin.

Related pages
 Oceanic crust

References
 Butler, Rob, Making new continents  Accessed 01/29/2006
 Saal, A.L., Rudnick R.L., Ravizza G.E. & Hart S.R., 1998. Re-Os isotope evdence for the composition, formation and age of the lower crust. Nature, 39317, 1998.
 Taylor and McLennan, 1995, Model of growth of continental crust through time in John Victor Walther, 2005, Essentials Of Geochemistry, Jones & Bartlett,
 von Huene, R. and D.W. Scholl, 1991. "Observations at convergent margins concerning sediment subduction, subduction erosion, and the growth of continental crust." Reviews of Geophysics, 29, 279-316.

Other websites
Average composition of Continental Crust
Crust 5.1

Geology

Continental crust


Lusaka Province is a province in Zambia. The capital is Lusaka, which is also the national capital. It is the smallest province in Zambia, with an area of 21,896 km². It is also Zambia's most populated and most densely populated province, with a population of 2,191,225 and density of 100 persons per km² as of 2010.

The province is bordered by Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and separated by the Lower Zambezi National Park. Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (in Chongwe District) and Lusaka City Airport (in Lusaka) are the two airports in the province.

Lusaka Province


is a large square and popular tourist destination located in central Madrid, Spain at the western end of the Gran Vía. It features a monument to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and is adjacent to two of Madrid's most prominent skyscrapers. Additionally, the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) is only a short walk south from the plaza.
After a two and a half years of renovation, on 22 November 2021, the square was reopened for pedestrians.

Cervantes Monument

Right in the center of the square is the monument to Miguel de Cervantes, created at the same time as the square itself. Around the monument, a series of landscaped spaces were created for the enjoyment and rest of passers-by.

In front of the statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, a pond of rectangular form is located that forms one of the best known views of the Spanish capital, along with the Torre de Madrid and Edificio España behind it. Initially, the statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza were located, approximately, in what is now the center of the pond, since it was later made. The base of the monument is in granite, with the sculpture made of red stone from Sepúlveda (and some additions in bronze).

Its accomplishment was carried out on the occasion of the third centenary of the publication of the second part of Don Quixote, in 1915, and which continued with the centenary of the death of the writer (1616), in 1916. The author of the project was the architect and sculptor Rafael Martínez Zapatero, who counted on the collaboration of Pedro Muguruza Otaño. The sculptures added were the work of Lorenzo Coullaut Valera.

The figures that make up this emblematic monument have, on the one hand, a seated Cervantes and at the base of the monument, and under the feet of the writer, are the statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. The set was finalized when the figures of Dulcinea and Aldonza Lorenzo were added, also characters of the Cervantes novel. Alluding to the universality of Don Quixote, the monument also contemplates the five continents, all of them reading the work of Cervantes. On the other side and above the fountains, is represented the Spanish Literature, dressed in period and holding a book with his right hand. The tree that predominates in the landscaping of the square is the olive tree, in homage to the La Mancha fields in the wanderings of Don Quixote and Sancho.

Surrounding buildings
Adjacent to the plaza are two of the tallest buildings in Madrid, the 142 m (466 ft) Torre de Madrid ("Madrid Tower"), built in 1957, and the 117 m (384 ft) tall Edificio España ("Spain Building"), built in 1953.

There you will also find the House of Gallardo, built in 1911 and considered one of the notable examples of the Art Nouveau style of architecture in the city.

Metro station
Plaza de España is also the name of a Metro station located on the eastern corner of the plaza, serviced by the #3 and #10 lines, with a connection to the #2 line.

History

In 1808, the area was part of the Príncipe Pío hill. It was one of the locations used by French firing squads to execute prisoners taken during the May 2nd uprising.

See also
 Al pueblo del dos de mayo de 1808

Notes

References
 Madrid Skyscrapers at skyscraperpage.com
 Estación de Plaza de España / Noviciado from the Spanish-language Wikipedia article. Retrieved May 20, 2006.
 Plaza de España (Madrid) from the Spanish-language Wikipedia article. Retrieved May 20, 2006.

Gran Vía (Madrid)
Espana

Plaza de España, Madrid


Polish Wedding is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Theresa Connelly. It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 1998 and Berlin International Film Festival on February 12. It was released in the U.S. on July 17.

It takes place within the then Polish American community of Hamtramck, Michigan – the childhood home of director Theresa Connelly – at some time between the 1950s and 1970s. The interior of the family's home was shot in a local house on Wyandotte Street in Hamtramck. The St. Florian Church was used as a backdrop. Virtually all characters are Polish Americans, though the actors playing them are mostly of other ethnic origins.  Kristen Bell appears in an uncredited role, making this her film debut.

Plot

Jadzia is the matriarch of a family of five children, four sons and a daughter. The household also includes the eldest son Ziggy's wife Sofie– a Syrian-American whom Jadzia calls a Gypsy and who also works with Jadzia as a cleaner – and their infant child.

Jadzia is "somewhat" happily married to the baker Bolek, who she married after she got pregnant at 15. She also is having a long-term relationship with Roman, who she secretly sees. Her daughter Hala is a dropout, so is expected to help around the house.

The flirtatious Hala catches the eye of neighborhood cop Russell Schuster, who knows her middle brothers, Kaz and Witek. He helps them on the house so he can see her. That evening, equally attracted to each other, they make love, though Russell has second thoughts. At church on Sunday, Russell has difficulty keeping his eyes off Hala. After the service, they kiss on the church's steps.

When Jadzia arrives home late, she finds her key doesn't work in the back door. Starting to sneak in through a basement window she bumps into Hala, who's sneaking out. Before Jadzia can hit her, she blurts out to not hurt her baby.

The next day, Hala is at their Catholic church, as the priest had chosen her for a special activity, due to her supposed purity. Jadzia confronts her, so she leaves.

Jadzia and Sofie make Hala put on Sofie's wedding dress to pressure Russell into marrying her. She gets him to take her out on his motorcycle, they have sex again, but he refuses to marry her. When Hala sneaks into the basement window, Bolek sees and follows close behind. They have cigs with Kris, then Bolek goes out the window, sees Jadzia and follows her. She goes to Roman's, and Bolek is devastated to see her with him.

After making love, Roman surprises Jadzia with two tickets to Paris, wanting to run off there with her. She refuses due to her familial responsibilities, and when he asks her why she's with him she leaves. Marching home at dawn, Jadzia rallies her sons to go with her to the Schusters' and demand Russell take responsibility for impregnating Hala. Kris gets Bolek to help, but he quickly directs his anger from Russell towards Jadzia.

Bolek chases Jadzia home, almost hits her, then locks the door behind him. That night they make up by making love. In the morning, the whole family is in the kitchen when Jadzia and Bolek seemingly have a fight, but Hala finds them happily together in the pantry.

The next day, at the Polish-American Catholic church ceremony, a youth calls out to say that Hala is hardly an example of virginal purity as she's single and pregnant. The priest is about to strike her when Jadzia stops him.

One year later, Hala and Russell are at her Polish family home, together happily with their baby.

Cast
 Claire Danes as Hala
 Jon Bradford as Sailor
 Adam Trese as Russell Schuster
 Lena Olin as Jadzia
 Ramsey Krull as Kris
 Gabriel Byrne as Bolek
 Seamus McNally as Heckler
 Daniel Lapaine as Ziggy
 Rachel and Rebecca Morrin as Ziggy and Sofie's Baby
 Mili Avital as Sofie
 Steven Petrarca as Witek
 Brian Hoyt as Kaz
 Christina Romana Lypeckyj as Kasia
 Peter Carey as Piotrus
 Rade Šerbedžija as Roman
 Kristen Bell as teenage girl (uncredited)

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 42% based on reviews from 36 critics.

Home media
The region 1 DVD was released March 16, 1999.

References

External links

 "The Big Lebowski Goes To The Polish Wedding: Polish Americans – Hollywood Style", review  by John J. Bukowczyk

1998 films
1998 comedy-drama films
American comedy-drama films
American independent films
1990s English-language films
Teenage pregnancy in film
Films about weddings in the United States
Films produced by Tom Rosenberg
Films set in Michigan
Films shot in Michigan
Fox Searchlight Pictures films
Lakeshore Entertainment films
Polish-American culture in Metro Detroit
1998 independent films
1990s American films
Films about Polish-American culture

Polish Wedding


H.460 is a series of extensions to the H.323 videoconferencing standard from the ITU. Introduced in 2005, several of the extensions, including H.460.17, H.460.18 and H.460.19, deal with firewall and NAT traversal. For example, they enable end points to communicate with each other without the need of intermediate nodes.

References

Teleconferencing

H.460


Vandervell v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1967] 2 AC 291 is a leading English trusts law case, concerning resulting trusts. It demonstrates that the mere intention to not have a resulting trust (for example, to avoid taxes) does not make it so.

This case was the first in a series of decisions involving Tony Vandervell's trusts and his tax liability. It concerned whether an oral instruction to transfer an equitable interest in shares complied with the writing requirement under Law of Property Act 1925, section 53(1)(c), and so whether receipt of dividends was subject to tax. The second was Re Vandervell Trustees Ltd, which involved the Special Commissioner of the Inland Revenue's ability to amend tax assessments. The third was Re Vandervell Trustees Ltd (No 2), which concerned whether Vandervell could be taxed because he could have an equitable interest through a resulting trust if he had exercised an option right.

Facts
Tony Vandervell was a wealthy racing car manufacturer with a company called Vandervell Products Ltd. He wanted to donate to the Royal College of Surgeons, to establish a chair of pharmacology. He also wanted to avoid paying tax on the donation. At the time, stamp duty applied to outright donations and taxes applied to any income through dividends on company shares. However, since the Royal College of Surgeons was a charity it was not liable to pay tax on any income.

Vandervell orally instructed his trust company (Vandervell Trustees Ltd, which was also set up to administer his money for his children) to transfer 100,000 shares in Vandervell Products Ltd to the Royal College of Surgeons, with an option for the trustees to purchase the shares back for £5000. He then instructed the company to declare a dividend on the shares. So while the shares were in the possession of the Royal College of Surgeons, it paid out £245,000 in dividends up to 1961. Vandervell had hoped this would mean that he would avoid tax (as opposed to simply getting income for himself, on which he would pay tax, and then giving the money to the College). Unfortunately, in 1960, the Inland Revenue made a claim for tax on the transfer.

The Inland Revenue argued that Vandervell retained an equitable interest in the shares. They were still his, as even though the shares were possessed by the College, he had the option to get them back. They also argued his oral instruction to the trust company was not capable of transferring the equitable interest, because it did not comply with the formality requirements specified in Law of Property Act 1925 section 53(1)(c). This section requires signed writing to evidence the existence of a disposition. So he should be liable to pay tax on the value of those shares.

Judgment
The House of Lords, by three to two, found that Vandervell was indeed liable to pay tax on the £245,000 of dividends given to the Royal College of Surgeons. The House of Lords held that the Law of Property Act 1925, section 53(1)(c), was not applicable to situations where a beneficiary directs his trustees, by way of his Saunders v Vautier right to do so, to transfer full legal and equitable ownership to someone else. The case is a proposition that an oral declaration to a bare trustee to transfer the trust property to a third party absolutely for his own benefit is a valid disposition. However, Vandervell had not successfully divested himself of ownership (legal and equitable) in the shares, since the Trust Company had an option to purchase the shares back from the RCS. If the settlor does not divest himself adequately as in Vandervell v IRC a resulting trust would operate. The option to purchase a substantial fraction of the company for only £5000 was extremely valuable. As such, Vandervell was liable to pay surtax on the option.

Lord Wilberforce said that there was,

See also
English trusts law
Resulting trusts in English law
Re Vandervell's Trusts (No 2) [1974] Ch 269
Tinsley v Milligan  [1994]  1  AC 340
Tribe v Tribe  [1996]  Ch 107
Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council  [1996]  AC 669
Air Jamaica Ltd v Charlton [1999]  1 WLR  1399
Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd  [1970]  AC 567
Twinsectra Ltd v Yardley [2002]  2 AC 164

Notes

References
RC Nolan, 'Vandervell v IRC: A Case of Overreaching' [2002] CLJ 169, argued that a trustee should not have to take instructions from a beneficiary with a limited interest in shares, because that would be contrary to the principle that a registered owner should vote in the interests of all beneficiaries.

English trusts case law
House of Lords cases
1966 in United Kingdom case law
HM Revenue and Customs
United Kingdom taxation case law

Vandervell v IRC


Nicolas Fargues (born 8 March 1972) is a French novelist.

From 1998 to 2002, he had various jobs in journalism, libraries and publishing.  He published two novels Le Tour du propriétaire (2000) and Demain si vous le voulez bien (2001) before achieving his first major public and critical success, with One Man Show, published in 2002.  This book is based on his own experiences in the media world where he encountered celebrities whom he found "smaller and more tired than on the screen".  Two years later, he published Rade Terminus, which was inspired by his experience as an expatriate, directing the Alliance Française in Antsiranana (Madagascar).

His most recent books are J'étais derrière toi (2006) and Beau rôle (2008).

External links
How I Write - Nicolas Fargues, Untitled Books
Photograph of Fargues
Review of Beau rôle

21st-century French non-fiction writers
1972 births
Living people
French male writers

Nicolas Fargues


The monito del monte or colocolo opossum, Dromiciops gliroides, also called chumaihuén in Mapudungun, is a diminutive marsupial native only to southwestern South America (Argentina and Chile). It is the only extant species in the ancient order Microbiotheria, and the sole New World representative of the superorder Australidelphia (all other New World marsupials are members of the paraphyletic Ameridelphia). The species is nocturnal and arboreal, and lives in thickets of South American mountain bamboo in the Valdivian temperate forests of the southern Andes, aided by its partially prehensile tail. It eats primarily insects and other small invertebrates, supplemented with fruit.

Taxonomy and etymology
Dromiciops gliroides is the sole extant member of the order Microbiotheria. It was first described by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas in 1894. The generic name Dromiciops is based on the resemblance of the monito del monte to the eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus), one of the synonyms of which is Dromicia nana. The specific name gliroides is a combination of the Latin glis, gliris ("dormouse", more generally "rodent") and Greek oides ("similar to"). The name australis in a synonym (D. australis) refers to the southern distribution of the animal.  The common name monito del monte is Spanish for "little monkey of the bush".

In his 1943 Mammals of Chile, American zoologist Wilfred Hudson Osgood identified two subspecies of the monito del monte:

Dromiciops gliroides australis F. Philippi, 1893: It occurs in the Valdivian temperate rain forest in southcentral Chile.
Dromiciops gliroides gliroides Thomas, 1894: It occurs in the northeastern Chiloé Island.

Phylogeny and biogeography

South American marsupials have long been suspected to be ancestral to those of Australia, consistent with the fact that the two continents were connected via Antarctica in the early Cenozoic. Australia's earliest known marsupial is Djarthia, a primitive mouse-like animal that lived in the early Eocene about 55 million years ago (mya). Djarthia had been identified as the earliest known australidelphian, and this research suggested that the monito del monte was the last of a clade that included Djarthia. This relationship suggests that the ancestors of the monito del monte might have reached South America by back-migration from Australia. The time of divergence between the monito del monte and Australian marsupials was estimated to have been 46 mya.

Dromiciops is thought to have evolved from members of the genus Microbiotherium, known from the early Miocene of South America, with some authors considering the genera indistinguishable. All other genera, like Pachybiotherium, had become extinct by the late Miocene.

However, in 2010, analysis of retrotransposon insertion sites in the nuclear DNA of a variety of marsupials, while confirming the placement of the monito del monte in Australidelphia, also clarified that its lineage is the most basal of that superorder. The study further confirmed that the most basal of all marsupial orders are the other two South American lineages (Didelphimorphia and Paucituberculata, with the former probably branching first). This conclusion indicates that Australidelphia arose in South America (along with the ancestors of all other living marsupials), and probably reached Australia in a single dispersal event after Microbiotheria split off. Fossils of another Eocene australidelphian, the microbiotherian Woodburnodon casei, have been described from the Antarctic peninsula, and fossils of a related early Eocene woodburnodontid have been found in Patagonia.

Habitat
Monitos del monte live in the dense forests of highland Argentina and Chile, mainly in trees, where they construct spherical nests of water-resistant colihue leaves. These leaves are then lined with moss or grass, and placed in well-protected areas of the tree, such as underbrush, tree cavities, or fallen timber. The nests are sometimes covered with gray moss as a form of camouflage. These nests provide the monito del monte with some protection from cold, both when it is active and when it hibernates.

Fragmentation of Valdivian temperate rainforests into non-contiguous areas is known to reduce the abundance of monitos del monte in a given area, but has little or no impact on whether it occurs in an area or not.

Morphology
Monitos del monte are small marsupials that look like mice. Dromiciops have the same dental formula as Didelphids: , a total of 50 teeth. Their size ranges from . They have short and dense fur that is primarily brown-gray with patches of white at their shoulders and back, and their underside is more of a cream or light gray color. Monitos del monte also have distinct black rings around their eyes. Their small furred ears are well-rounded and their rostrums are short. The head to body length is around , and their tail length is between . Their tails are somewhat prehensile and mostly furred with the exception of  of the underside. The naked underside of their tails may contribute to increasing friction when the mammal is on a tree. The base of their tails also functions as a fat storage organ which they use during winter hibernation. In a week, Monitos del monte can store enough fat to double their body size.

Sexual dimorphism

At the end of the summer, female monitos del monte tend to be larger and heavier than males. The tails of the sexes also vary in size during this time; females have a thicker tail, which is where they store fat; the difference suggests that females need more energy than males during hibernation. The sexual dimorphism is only seen during this time and not year-round.

Reproduction
Monitos del monte have a monogamous mating system. The females have well-formed, fur-lined pouch containing four teats. They normally reproduce in the spring once a year and can have a litter size varying from one to five. They can feed a maximum of four offspring, so if there are five young, one will not survive. When the young are mature enough to leave the pouch, approximately five months, they are nursed in a distinctive nest. They are then carried on the mother's back. The young remain in association with the mother after weaning. Males and females both reach sexual maturity after two years.

Habits

The monito del monte is adapted to arboreal life; its tail and paws are prehensile. It is largely nocturnal and, depending on the ambient and internal temperature, and on the availability of food, it spends much of the day in a state of torpor. Such behaviour enables it to survive periods of extreme weather and food shortage, conserving energy instead of foraging to no effect.

The animal covers its nest with moss for concealment, and for insulation and protection from bad weather.

Diet
The monito del monte depends on consuming both insects and fruit, with either component individually being nutritionally unbalanced. Fruit consumed comes from 16 species of plant, with the mistletoe species Tristerix corymbosus being a preferred source of fruit. A study performed in the temperate forests of southern Argentina showed a mutualistic seed dispersal relationship between D. gliroides and Tristerix corymbosus. The monito del monte is the sole dispersal agent for this plant, and without it the plant would likely become extinct. The monito del monte eats the fruit of T. corymbosus, and germination takes place in the gut.

Conservation
For the past few years the number of Dromiciops has declined, and the species is now classified as "near threatened". Many factors contribute to the decline:

The monito del monte is not the only organism which will be affected if it becomes endangered. Dromiciops illustrate parasite-host specificity with the tick Ixodes neuquenensis. This tick can only be found on the monito del monte, so it depends on the survival of this nearly endangered mammal. T. corymbosus also depends on the survival of this species, because without the seed dispersal agency of the monito del monte, it would not be able to reproduce.

Currently, there are minimal conservation efforts. Ecological studies are being conducted in the Chiloé Island that might help future conservation efforts. Dromiciops has been found in the Los Ruiles National Reserve and the Valdivian Coastal Reserve, which are protected areas in Chile  and the Nothofagus forest of Parque Nacional Los Alerces, Chubut, Southern Argentina.

References

Sources

Microbiotheriidae
Mammals described in 1894
EDGE species
Marsupials of South America
Marsupials of Argentina
Mammals of Patagonia
Mammals of the Andes
Marsupials of Chile
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
Fauna of the Valdivian temperate forests

Monito del monte


Wilhelmus "Willem" Hendrikus Petrus Johannes de Zwart (16 May 1862 – 11 December 1931) was a Dutch painter, engraver, and watercolorist with many connections to the Hague School and later associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement.

Biography
Willem de Zwart was born in The Hague on 16 May 1862, the eldest of eight children.  His youngest brother, Pieter, would also become a painter. His father painted carriages for a living, and in 1875 the fourteen-year-old Willem was apprenticed to a carriage maker to learn the same trade. In his spare time, he copied prints he found in magazines, and a year later he enrolled in the evening class at the Royal Academy of Visual Art in The Hague. The following year, he was admitted at the studio of Jacob Maris. In the three years that he remained here, it is probable that he got to know many of the leading lights of the Hague School.  Maris also sent De Zwart on a journey to the coast, without drawing materials, and had him work out his impressions directly on canvas when he returned to the studio.

De Zwart made several copies of works by 16th and 17th century masters in the Mauritshuis. He was most interested in the works of Johannes Vermeer, Paulus Potter, and Rembrandt, but studied paintings by German and Italian masters, as well. Sometimes he produced copies on commission. In this period, he also made detailed studies of animals, concentrating particularly on their legs, heads and snouts. De Zwart developed a fastidious painting style with a sober, predominantly brown palette.

Willem de Zwart lived and worked until 1894 in The Hague and from 1900 to 1905 in Amsterdam. His work has a wide range of subjects: landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and still life, rendered in a naturalistic or impressionist style.  His work shows affinity with the people and city-oriented Amsterdam Impressionism. In his choice of subjects belonged to the Hague School and in his style and his exuberant use of color to the school of Amsterdam Impressionism. He is also known as the "Hague Breitner" because of the similarity of his work to that of George Hendrik Breitner. He painted his landscapes, figure paintings and still lifes with smooth, bold brushstrokes. De Zwart applied the paint thickly, sometimes straight from the tube, with bright colors, exuberant reds, yellows and blues, giving his paintings special vibrancy.

Sources
Sillevis, John and Tabak, Anne, The Hague School Book, Waanders Uitgegevers, Zwolle, 2004 (pp. 391–397)
Marius, Gerharda Hermina, Dutch Painters of the 19th Century, The Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk (pp. 218–219)

See also
 Johannes Evert Hendrik Akkeringa

External links

A number of his works at mutualart.com
Dutch Art in the Nineteenth Century/The Younger Masters of the Hague School.

1862 births
1931 deaths
Hague School
19th-century Dutch painters
Dutch male painters
Painters from The Hague
20th-century Dutch painters
19th-century Dutch male artists
20th-century Dutch male artists

Willem de Zwart


Antônio Augusto de Lima (5 April 1859 – 22 April 1934) was a Brazilian journalist, poet, musician, magistrate, jurist, professor and politician. He was born in Congonhas de Sabará (now Nova Lima).

Augusto de Lima was governor of the state of Minas Gerais, and he idealized the transfer of the state's capital from Ouro Preto to Belo Horizonte (then "Curral Del Rey").  In 1903, he became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and was elected its president in 1928.

In 1906, Augusto de Lima was elected deputado federal (house representative) and moved to Rio de Janeiro, the federal district. There, he married Vera Monteiro de Barros de Suckow, granddaughter of Hans Wilhelm von Suckow,  Major of the Prussian Army (who fought Napoleon's army in the Battle of Waterloo) and patron of Brazil's horse racing —  the first breeder of race horses in Brazil.

As a politician, Augusto de Lima defended female suffrage and was also an ecologist. He was strongly devoted to Saint Francis of Assisi, and was responsible for the first Amazon forest protection law in Brazil, implemented after a fifteen-year battle in congress.

Bibliography

Contemporâneas, poetry (1887)
Símbolos poetry (1892)
Poesias, poetry (1909)
Noites de sábado, chronicles (1923)
São Francisco de Assis, poetry (1930)
Coletânea de poesias (1880–1934)
Poetry (1959)
Tiradentes, poetry
Antes da Sombra, poetry (not released).

External links
Augusto de Lima's page — Brazilian Academy of Letters Website (Portuguese)

19th-century births
1934 deaths
Brazilian male poets
Members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters
People from Nova Lima
Governors of Minas Gerais
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Minas Gerais
19th-century Brazilian male writers
19th-century Brazilian poets
20th-century Brazilian male writers
20th-century Brazilian poets

Augusto de Lima


Kit Armstrong (, born March 5, 1992) is an American classical pianist, composer, organist, and former child prodigy of British-Taiwanese parentage.

Education
Armstrong was born in Los Angeles into a non-musical family. He displayed interest in sciences, languages and mathematics. At the age of 5, and without access to a piano, he taught himself musical composition by reading an abridged encyclopedia. He subsequently began formal studies in piano with Mark Sullivan and in composition with Michael Martin (1997–2001).

Armstrong has always pursued music and academic education in parallel. He attended Garden Grove Christian School (1997–1998), Anaheim Discovery Christian School (1998–1999), Los Alamitos High School and Orange County School of the Arts (1999–2001). While in high school, he studied physics at California State University, Long Beach, and music composition at Chapman University.

At the age of 9, he became a full-time undergraduate student at Utah State University studying biology, physics, mathematics as well as music (2001–2002). In 2003, Armstrong enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music studying piano with Eleanor Sokoloff and Claude Frank, while simultaneously taking courses in chemistry and mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2004, Armstrong moved to London to continue his music education at the Royal Academy of Music studying piano with Benjamin Kaplan, composition with Paul Patterson, Christopher Brown and Gary Carpenter, and musicianship classes with Julian Perkins. In parallel, he studied pure mathematics at the Imperial College London (2004–2008).

Armstrong received a Bachelor of Music degree with First Class Honours from the Royal Academy of Music in 2008 and a Master of Science degree with honours from Pierre-and-Marie-Curie University, Paris, in mathematics in 2012.

Armstrong has studied regularly with Alfred Brendel since 2005.

Career as pianist
Since Armstrong's debut with the Long Beach Bach Festival Orchestra at the age of 8, he has appeared as soloist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has collaborated with conductors including Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Thomas Dausgaard, Christoph von Dohnányi, Manfred Honeck, Charles Mackerras, Bobby McFerrin, Kent Nagano, Jonathan Nott, and Mario Venzago. Solo piano recitals have taken Armstrong to London, Paris, Vienna, Florence, Venice, Baden-Baden, Berlin, Dortmund, Leipzig, Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Bolzano, Verbier, La Roque-d'Anthéron and various cities in the United States.

In June 2003, Armstrong was invited to play at the Carnegie Hall to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Steinway & Sons. In 2006 he won the "Kissinger Klavierolymp", a competition of young pianists related to the festival Kissinger Sommer. Among his recital projects in 2010 was a programme including etudes by Chopin and Ligeti, and J. S. Bach's Inventions and Sinfoniae. In 2011, in honour of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt, Armstrong played a series of recitals featuring works by Bach and Liszt, including a concert on Liszt's 1862 Bechstein piano in Nike Wagner's festival Pelerinages. In 2016 and 2017 Armstrong appeared at the  with Renaud Capuçon. Armstrong was the "artiste étoile" of the 2016 Mozart Festival Würzburg and of the Bern Symphony Orchestra.

Chamber music is one of Armstrong's central interests. He performs with the Szymanowski String Quartet and in a piano trio with Andrej Bielow (violin) and Adrian Brendel (cello), and has given lieder recitals with Andreas Wolf and .

The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival awarded Armstrong the 2010 Leonard Bernstein Award. In 2011 he received the  from the . The  announced Kit Armstrong as WEMAG-Soloist prizewinner in 2014. Kit Armstrong was the festival's 2018 "prizewinner in residence", featuring in 24 concerts throughout the summer of 2018. Kit Armstrong was named holder of the Beethoven Ring in 2018.

In 2012, he purchased The Church of Sainte-Thérèse-de-l'Enfant-Jésus, Hirson in France as a hall for concerts and exhibitions.

Starting in March 2020, he has published every day a video from this church, sharing a piece of music together with personal and musicological explanations. This video series, "Musique, ma patrie", is the subject of profiles in French national television and press.

Career as composer
Armstrong composes for a wide variety of ensembles in various styles and genres. His compositions include one symphony, five concertos, six quintets, seven quartets, two trios, five duos, and 21 solo pieces.

Many of his ensemble works have been performed publicly: his Symphony No. 1, Celebration was performed by the Pacific Symphony in March 2000; a string quartet commissioned by the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig in honour of Alfred Brendel's 80th birthday was premiered by the Szymanowski String Quartet in 2011; the piano trio Stop laughing, we're rehearsing! was recorded with Andrej Bielow and Brendel for GENUIN in 2012. On January 27, 2015, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin performed a new fortepiano concerto by Armstrong.

The percussionist Alexej Gerassimez's premiere of Armstrong's percussion concerto with Konzerthausorchester Berlin in 2017 was broadcast on German nationwide radio.

His works are published by Edition Peters.

Awards
Armstrong has received many awards for his compositions: in 1999, his Chicken Sonata was awarded the first prize by the Music Teachers' Association of California, and in 2000, Five Elements won him another first prize from the same group. In 2001, he received a $10,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. Armstrong has received six Morton Gould Young Composer Awards from the ASCAP Foundation in New York, for Struwwelpeter: Character Pieces for viola and piano.

Works

Album- William Byrd & John Bull : The Visionaries of Piano Music (2021)

 ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la - Fantasia (2021)
 Queen Elizabeth's Pavan (2021)
 Mephisto Waltz (2021)
 Canons 51- 48- 39-7-15- 114 (2021)
 Canons 68-78-79-65-3-53 (2021)
 Walsingham 22 variations (2021)
 O Mistress Mine (2021)
 other songs in album as well

Piano
 Miniatures (2012)
 Fantasy on B–A–C–H (2011) – Commissioned by Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker
 Half of One, Six Dozen of the Other (2010) – Commissioned by Till Fellner
 Origami (2010)
 Lenz (2009) – Dedicated to Senator Gerhard Lenz
 Message in a Cabbage (2008) – Dedicated to Lady Jill Ritblat
 Reflections (2007)
 Variations on a Theme by Monteverdi (2007)
 Portraits, Theme and Six Variations (2006) – Dedicated to Lily Safra
 Fantasia and Toccata (2005)
 Sweet Remembrance, Suite in C Minor (2005) – Dedicated to Mrs Grosser
 A Spooky Night (2002)
 Six Short Pieces (2001)
 Transformation, Piano Sonata in G Minor (2002)
 The Triumph of a Butterfly (2001)
 Homage to Bach (2000)
 A Thunderstorm (2000)
 Chickens in the Spring Time, Theme and 46 Variations (1999)
 Five Elements (1999)
 Chicken Sonata (1998)

Solo instrumental
 Pursuit, Five Pieces for solo marimba (2004) – Commissioned by Pius Cheung

Duo
 Der kranke Mond for violin and cello (2012) – commissioned by Movimentos Festwochen
 Who Stole My Wasabi? for cello and piano (2008) – commissioned by Music at Plush
 Struwwelpeter, Character Pieces for violin and piano (2007)
 Struwwelpeter, Character Pieces for viola and piano (2006)
 Viola Sonata in A Minor (2005)

Trio
 Time Flies like an Arrow for violin, cello and piano (2011) – Commissioned by the Klavier-Festival Ruhr
 Trio for violin, cello and piano (2009) – Commissioned by Music at Plush

Quartet
 String Quartet (2011) – Commissioned by the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig for the Szymanowski Quartet in honour of Alfred Brendel's 80th birthday
 Breaking Symmetry for horn, violin, viola and cello (2008) – Commissioned by the International Chamber Music Festival The Hague
 String Quartet in D Minor (2005)
 Birds by the Pond, String Quartet in A (2004)
 Forest Scenes, String Quartet in B (2002)
 Millennium, Piano Quartet in C Minor (2000)
 String Quartet in B-flat (2000)

Quintet
 Quintet for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano (2009) – Commissioned by the International Chamber Music Festival The Hague
 A Play for piano quintet (2009) – Commissioned by Musikkollegium Winterthur
 Landscapes, Piano Quintet in F Minor (2006) – Commissioned by the International Chamber Music Festival The Hague
 Wind Quintet, Theme and Six Variations (2004)
 Bug Quintet, Piano Quintet in G (2003)
 A Day of Chatting and Playing, Theme and Six Variations for flute, violin, viola, cello and piano (2001)

Orchestra
 Andante (2012) – Commissioned by Musikkollegium Winterthur
 Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (2010) – Commissioned by Frankfurter BachKonzerte
 Piano Concerto in F (2005)
 Anticipation, Cello Concerto in G (2003)
 Piano Concerto in D Minor (2001)
 Celebration, Symphony in F (2000)

Discography
In September 2008, Armstrong recorded Bach, Liszt and Mozart for Plushmusic.tv.

In 2011, the film Set the Piano Stool on Fire by Mark Kidel was released on DVD, chronicling the relationship between pianist Alfred Brendel and Armstrong.

In April 2012, GENUIN released a CD by Armstrong, Brendel, and Andrej Bielow of piano trios by Haydn, Beethoven, Armstrong and Liszt.

On September 27, 2013, Sony Music Entertainment released Kit Armstrong's album "Bach, Ligeti, Armstrong". On the CD he presents his own transcriptions of 12 Chorale Preludes by J.S. Bach, his own composition and homage "Fantasy on B-A-C-H", and parts of the Musica ricercata by Ligeti.

In November 2015, Sony Music Entertainment released "Liszt: Symphonic Scenes", a solo piano CD by Armstrong.

Kit Armstrong's 2016 recital in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, featuring music by William Byrd, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, John Bull, and Johann Sebastian Bach was recorded as a DVD and released by Unitel.

Concerts at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth in 2018 and 2019 were published on DVD, featuring music by Liszt, Mozart and Wagner.

In Byrd & Bull: The Visionaries of Piano Music, a double CD set of works by William Byrd and John Bull produced by Deutsche Grammophon in 2021, Armstrong "presents pieces that were conceived as much more than diversions for an elite or adornments to ritual, span everything from meditative elegies and rousing marches to virtuoso variations on popular melodies and Bull's ingenious canons." The publication was met with critical acclaim from BBC Music and The Times among others, in addition to the winning the year-end awards Top 10 Classical Recordings of the Year and Critics' Choice by Presto Music and Gramophone, respectively.

Renaud Capuçon and Kit Armstrong recorded Mozart's sonatas for piano and violin for Deutsche Grammophon in a 4-CD set released in June 2023.

References

Further reading
  continued on page A15

External links

1992 births
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American pianists
21st-century classical pianists
Alumni of Imperial College London
Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music
American classical pianists
American male classical pianists
Chapman University alumni
Classical musicians from California
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Curtis Institute of Music alumni
Living people
Musicians from Los Angeles
Orange County School of the Arts alumni
Utah State University alumni
Los Alamitos High School alumni

Kit Armstrong


Britannia  (BN72) is the last working Class One East Coast Smack. She was built in King's Lynn in 1914 and launched in 1915, and is currently (2021) undergoing restoration in Devon, and due to be relaunched in 2022. She measures  long with a beam of .

History
Britannia was built as the result of consultations between her owner Alfred Rake and the builders the Worfolk Brothers of King's Lynn. She was built of single grown oak frames sourced from Sandringham Forest. She was the last and largest Class One Smack to be built by the Workfolk brothers.  The National Historic Ships Register speculates that she was named after the King's yacht, the HMY Britannia, Rake having crewed on that yacht. Built in 1914, she was launched in 1915.

In the 1920s and 30s she was adapted for use as a power whelk trawler, and her interior later changed for use as a charter vessel. She capsized and sank in 1968, after which she was sold, and then restored in Bristol. From 1974 to 1997  she operated as a charter yacht on the west coast of Scotland, after which she was taken to the Hamble, where she continued to offer sailing holidays. In 1995 she was re-named Spirit of Britannia due to registry issues while chartering in the canaries. She was acquired by the Trinity Sailing Trust of Brixham in 2007, refitted in 2008, and in 2011 laid up due to the scarcity of charter work, during which time she was allowed to fall into substantial disrepair. Since 2013 she has been undergoing restoration by the Britannia Sailing Trust in Winkleigh, mid-Devon.  She will be relaunched in 2022, from which time she will be based in Cornwall, offering sailing experiences to the disadvantaged and campaigning for cleaner seas.

Legacy
In 1979 she featured in the HTV series Smuggler.  A model of Britannia is held in King's Lynn Museum (with the ship number LN76 on her).

References

1915 ships
Museum ships in the United Kingdom
Fishing vessels of the United Kingdom
Norfolk Broads
History of Norfolk
Boat types

Britannia (smack)


The World Society of Victimology (WSV) is an international, non-governmental organization, holding special category consultive status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations as well as with the Council of Europe. Its international membership includes: front-line victim service providers, academics and researchers in related social sciences, government representatives, doctors, lawyers, law enforcement and emergency service personnel, students and members of the interested public.

The purpose of the WSV is to advance the research of victimology and improvement of practices on an international level; to improve collegiality and cooperation in the field, and to promote cooperation between global, regional, national, and local organizations and agencies which serve or work with victim issues.

External links
 World Society of Victimology

Victimology
International organisations based in Australia
Victims' rights

World Society of Victimology