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Conformism in the food processing techniques of white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus)
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Researchers of "culture" have long been interested in the role of social learning in establishing patterns of behavioral variation in wild animals, but very few studies examine this issue using a developmental approach. This 7-year study examines the acquisition of techniques used to process Luehea candida fruits in a wild population of white-faced capuchin monkeys, Cebus capucinus, residing in and near Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, Costa Rica. The two techniques for extracting seeds (pounding or scrubbing) were approximately equal in efficiency, and subjects experimented with both techniques before settling on one technique—typically the one they most frequently observed. In a sample of 106 subjects that had already settled on a preferred technique, the females adopted the maternal technique significantly more often than expected by chance, but the males did not. Using a longitudinal approach, I examined the acquisition of Luehea processing techniques during the first 5 years of life. Regression analysis revealed that the technique most frequently observed (measured as proportion of Luehea processing bouts observed that used pounding as opposed to scrubbing) significantly predicted the technique adopted by female observers, particularly in the second year of life; the amount of impact of the observed technique on the practiced technique was somewhat less significant for male observers. These results held true for (a) observations of maternal technique only, (b) observations of technique used by all individuals other than the mother, and (c) observations of maternal and non-maternal techniques combined.
KeywordsSocial influence Cebus capucinus Food processing Capuchins Development
Debate on a central anthropological issue, the origin and function of human cultural capacities (Richerson and Boyd 2005; Laland and Galef 2009; Perry 2006) has been powerfully affected in the past decade by the discovery of between-population differences in food processing techniques among wild non-human primates such as chimpanzees (Whiten et al. 1999), orangutans (van Schaik et al. 2003a), capuchins (Panger et al. 2002) and macaques (reviewed in Perry and Manson 2003). However, it remains unclear to what extent these differences are driven by social learning processes generally, and by copying, i.e., replicating an observed behavior, in particular.
Social learning, in its broadest sense, is defined as changes in the behavior of one individual that result at least in part from (a) attending to the behavior of another individual, (b) accompanying another individual so that the learner is exposed to new experiences, or even (c) encountering physical traces of others' activities that alter the discoverer's behavior (Box 1984; Fragaszy and Perry 2003). Such a definition includes both the acquisition of new knowledge or skills as a result of observing others, and also social influence biasing individuals toward the use of behaviors already in their repertoires. Most research on cultural transmission in non-human primates has focused on the role of social influence in the spread of recent innovations throughout populations. But another potentially important social process affecting between-group differences in behavior is conformism—the tendency for individuals to preferentially exhibit behavioral alternatives that they witness most frequently in their peers, or to exhibit the behaviors that are performed by peers who are considered most prestigious or successful, or those peers with whom they have the highest quality social relationships (however that might be defined). Conformism can involve the adoption of new behaviors, but it can also involve an acquired preference of the use of behaviors that are already in an individual's behavioral repertoire and/or the suppression of some other behavior formerly used in a particular context.
Due to the difficulty in measuring social influence in the wild, researchers who want to explain between-population differences in the behavior of wild primates have turned to captive animals to investigate the mechanisms of social learning that are likely to exist in the wild. Evidence from captive great apes (Whiten et al. 2005), captive brown capuchins (Dindo et al. 2007; Fredman and Whiten 2008; Bonnie and de Waal 2007; de Waal and Bonnie 2009; Fragaszy et al. 2004) and rehabilitant orangutans (Russon et al. 2007; Russon 2003) shows that, given frequent opportunities to observe model individuals with whom they have tolerant relationships, individuals can be induced to copy object-manipulation techniques that they have observed, thereby producing conformity biases and/or the maintenance of multiple traditions for solving the same foraging problem However, captive animals can sometimes be induced to express behaviors and exhibit problem-solving skills that are rarely expressed in the wild (Snowdon 2001; Kummer 1995), and so it is not necessarily safe to assume that phenomena documented in captivity also occur in the wild.
Documenting social learning in the wild is methodologically difficult; no one method can produce air-tight evidence, and it is therefore necessary to use multiple approaches to build a convincing case. Arguments for a central role of social learning in explaining non-human primate behavioral variation have been based largely on the "geographic" or "group contrasts method" (Whiten et al. 1999; van Schaik et al. 2003a; Fragaszy and Perry 2003), in which researchers (1) consider genetic and ecological explanations for observed geographic patterns of behavioral variation and (2) infer, for those behavior patterns for which such explanations are rejected, that the behavioral variation results from social learning. Of course, it is impossible to completely reject genetic and ecological explanations as possible influences on the acquisition of behavioral traits, especially for ecologically functional behavior, and it is likely that both factors play at least a minor role in explaining the patterning of variation in most if not all of the behavior patterns termed "traditions". Furthermore, it is to be expected that if a trait has high adaptive value (e.g. it enhances foraging efficiency), it should spread and replace less efficient variants until the trait is homogeneous within the population. Even for those behavior patterns that are influenced by genetic or ecological factors, there can still be a role of social learning that exerts an important independent influence on the acquisition of traits and the patterning of a trait's distribution within and between populations (Fragaszy and Perry 2003; Byrne 2007). For these reasons, the "group contrasts" method should be complemented by methods that seek other sorts of evidence for social learning.
Byrne (2007; Corp and Byrne 2002) has argued in favor of examining the acquisition of complexly structured foraging tasks that are homogeneous in a population, on the grounds that it is implausible that such complex behavior patterns could become uniform in a population without social influence. While this is likely to be true, it is hard to know exactly how complex a task has to be in order to be too complex for most typical members of the species to discover a behavioral sequence via individual trial-and-error learning. For example, the construction of leaf tools in New Caledonian crows was assumed to be too complex a task to acquire without social influence until experiments showed that tools of surprising complexity could be produced by individuals reared in isolation (Kenward et al. 2006). Likewise, two captive-born chimpanzees with no prior exposure to the rough bristly leaves used by wild chimpanzees for expelling intestinal parasites spontaneously folded such leaves upon their first encounter with them and swallowed them whole, just like their wild counterparts (Huffman and Hirata 2004). Another difficulty with Byrne's approach is that the homogeneity in the technique used makes it hard for the researcher to assess the amount of social influence that occurs, because all individuals ultimately acquire the same behavior patterns regardless of whom they have been watching.
In those rare and fortuitous cases in which there are multiple techniques that are common within a population (such as the capuchin Luehea processing described later in this paper, for which two techniques are approximately equally efficient), one productive research tactic is to compare within-group association patterns with patterns of technique distribution to see whether those dyads that spend more time together are also more likely to share the same techniques. Such an approach has been used by capuchin researchers (e.g. Panger et al. 2002; Perry and Ordoñez Jiménez 2006; O'Malley and Fedigan 2005) and has confirmed that dyads spending more time together are more likely to share techniques, though these results do not always attain statistical significance. Situations such as these are natural analogs to the "two-action" experimental methodology used to investigate imitation in captive situations (Fragaszy and Perry 2003; Whiten et al. 2005).
The problem with cross-sectional approaches such as these is that they do not necessarily capture the association patterns at the time when they are influencing skill acquisition, because social dynamics may change over the lifespan, and some individuals migrate. If skills are acquired early in life, then it is the social exposure during the skill acquisition phase—typically during the infant and juvenile phase, the precise period depending on the nature of the task—that is critical (Russon 2003; Perry 2009). Association patterns during adulthood may still provide fairly accurate representations of important relationships during the juvenile period for the philopatric sex, but certainly will not do so for the dispersing sex. A longitudinal developmental approach that measures social exposure over the time period when skills are being acquired will provide more meaningful results.
Longitudinal studies are rare because of the high cost and time commitment necessary to execute them. A multi-year study of the Gombe chimpanzees (Lonsdorf et al. 2004) showed that three immature female chimpanzees conformed to details of their mothers' termite tool-using technique, whereas three immature males did not do so. Case studies of the acquisition of feeding techniques in rehabilitant orangutans have also yielded promising results suggesting a strong role of social influence (Russon 2003). In this paper, I analyze the largest developmental data set thus far collected in a wild primate population, with the aim of investigating the role of social influence on food processing techniques in white-faced capuchin monkeys.
Methodological procedures
The study was conducted on a wild, habituated population of white-faced capuchins monkeys (Cebus capucinus) residing in or near Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve, in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. I have studied this population since 1990, and kinship relations are known for virtually all members of the study groups (Perry and Manson 2008; Muniz et al. 2006). The monkeys in this study resided in three social groups (AA, RR, and FF), though by the end of the study in 2007, AA group had fissioned once (producing FL group) and RR group had fissioned twice (producing RR2 and RR3 groups, see genealogies in S1 in the online supplement). The study groups all occupied forest that was essentially identical ecologically, and the groups had broadly overlapping home ranges, so that individuals of adjacent groups frequently visited the same Luehea trees, though never at the same time. Monkeys within the same social group forage as a fairly cohesive unit, visiting the same Luehea trees at roughly the same time. White-faced capuchins live in multi-male, multi-female groups ranging in size from 5 to 38 individuals in this population. At Lomas Barbudal, females remain with their female kin (Perry and Manson 2008; Muniz et al. 2006), whereas males first disperse at a median age of 7 years (range 5–11). Females at Lomas Barbudal give birth for the first time at a median age of 6 years. Male reproductive maturity is harder to assess and is more variable, but males reach adult size at 8–10 years.
Because the sons of the primary breeding male in one group often become the primary breeding male in adjacent groups (Perry and Manson 2008), there is no reason to expect significant genetic diversity between groups occupying adjacent/overlapping home ranges, as these groups do.
Foraging task
Data collection
The data collection protocol during Luehea candida foraging was as follows: My field assistants and I rotated through the monkeys feeding on Luehea, narrating detailed food processing observations onto microcassette recorders from the time a monkey began processing a fruit. When the fruit was dropped, the researcher switched to a new focal animal, waited until it began processing a new fruit, and continued recording the data until that fruit was dropped. During each sampling period, researchers noted (1) the focal monkey's processing techniques, (2) the identities of all other monkeys foraging on Luehea within ten body lengths (400 cm) of the focal animal, and (3) all instances in which the focal monkey's gaze was oriented toward a neighbor foraging within 400 cm of the focal (and the identity of that neighbor). All individuals of all age–sex classes were included in this data collection protocol. Tallies of data collected were maintained at the project headquarters so that under-sampled individuals could be given top priority for data collection. We attempted to sample all individuals evenly, but this was not always possible, because some monkeys forage on Luehea more than others.
In all statistical analyses, the term "years" refer to "developmental years," i.e., the number of Luehea seasons that the developing monkey has experienced, so that if an individual was born in the middle or end of Luehea season and hence had not yet begun leaving the mother's back prior to the end of the fruiting period, year 1 for that individual would be the year including the following Luehea season. Births are seasonal, with 69% of births occurring toward the end of the fruiting season, between April and July; the median birthdate is in May, the last month during which Luehea is typically a common item in the diet.
An additional method for assessing possible sex differences in visual attention to foragers was used, in case the small sample size of gazing events in the Luehea data set was preventing a significant effect from appearing. The data for this additional analysis was drawn from the broader developmental study, in which approximately 30 10-min focal follows are collected each month on each focal animal, and it evaluated visual attention to nearby monkeys foraging on any food, not just Luehea. Whenever focal individuals were within five body lengths (200 cm) of a foraging individual during 10-min focal follows, we noted whether the focal monkey visually attended to the forager. The terms "gazing," "looking," and "visually attending" are used interchangeably and are defined as orienting the head and eyes toward a particular target for a second or more. "Ignoring" is defined as not orienting the head and eyes toward a particular individual while it is foraging. To be included in this analysis, the following criteria were used: (a) the focal individual had to have contributed enough observations to be part of the Luehea processing developmental analysis (see "Statistical procedures"), (b) there had to be at least 25 observations for which the response (looking at or ignoring a neighbor foraging within <200 cm) was noted per 3-month block of time, and (c) the overall quality of data had to be high enough that the focal's responses to others' foraging efforts were clearly noted at least 75% of the time for that period. After these criteria were applied, the remaining data set consisted of 4022 hours of focal observation on 27 subjects.
Proximity data were taken from group scans (for individuals who were part of the Luehea processing study but not the broader developmental study) and instantaneous point samples collected at 2.5-min intervals during focal follows during Luehea season (for those subjects who were part of both studies). An average of 885 scans per monkey/year (range 208–2,092, SD 503) was used to calculate time spent within <40 cm of the mother or time spent alone (i.e., with no other monkey within <400 cm). Instantaneous point samples from focal data for a sample of 25 monkeys (11 males and 14 females) were used to calculate this same information for monkeys aged 6–9 months.
It was impossible to assess the relative efficiency of the two processing techniques (scrubbing vs. pounding) from naturalistic observations, so the relative efficiency of the techniques was measured in the following way: 48 fruits were collected, and pairs of fruits were matched as closely as possible (by me and a field assistant) for the degree to which the cracks were open and the number of seeds visible inside. One of each pair was put in a separate pile. Then I applied 10 s of pounding to each fruit in one pile, and 10 s of scrubbing to the other pile. The number of seeds per fruit was calculated for each technique. Of course, I am not identical to a monkey in terms of hand size and strength, but I did my best to hold the fruits identically and to use the same amount of pressure, matching the sound of the pounding and scrubbing to that produced when the monkeys perform these actions at close range.
Statistical procedures
For each individual in the sample, I calculated the "proportion of pounding" (i.e., the number of fruits that was pounded, divided by the sum total of fruits that were pounded and fruits that were scrubbed); this is termed the "practiced technique". To measure the social exposure to pounding versus scrubbing (i.e., the "observed technique"), I performed the following calculations for each focal individual: (a) I listed all individuals who processed Luehea within ten body lengths of the focal, (b) I calculated "proportion of pounding" as described above for each foraging neighbor, (c) I calculated a pounding exposure score for each neighbor by multiplying the "proportion of pounding" by the number of samples in which the neighbor was in proximity to the focal animal, and (d) I calculated the total pounding exposure score for each focal individual as the sum of pounding exposure scores over all neighbors divided by the total number of foraging events that the focal could have witnessed. I summed all of these scores and divided that number by the total number of foraging events witnessed for any neighbor. These scores provide an estimate of each focal animal's relative exposure to pounding versus scrubbing by neighbors. These scores were calculated separately for each year of development for each individual.
To assess the effects of observation opportunities on practiced technique for various years of development, I used a Poisson regression model with the standard errors adjusted for within-subject correlation. Only those subject/years in which there were at least ten fruits processed by the focal monkey and also ten social observation opportunities were retained in the sample, to ensure reliability of measurement. The resulting sample included 79 cases from 48 subjects (21 females and 27 males; 24 subjects contributed data to just 1 year, 17 to 2 years, and 7 to 3 years; none contributed to all 5 years). One female was dropped from the sample for the analysis of non-maternal influence due to lack of observation opportunity, and a male was dropped from the sample for analysis of maternal influence because his mother died before that season began. The regression analysis was performed with and without three male orphan outliers (NB, UG, and WM in the data set presented in S2 of the online supplement), because absence of the mother might reasonably be assumed to affect their social learning opportunities; exclusion of these individuals strongly affected the results, making males seem more similar to the females. In the regression analysis, a Poisson model was used because the outcome variable, proportion of pounding, is a rate measure derived from pounding counts (i.e., number of fruits pounded, divided by the sum of number of fruits pounded plus number of fruits scrubbed). The main predictor variable was "observed technique". Sex was also an independent variable, and developmental years were control variables. The model was run using three alternative measures of the observed technique: one that included observations of all monkeys, one taking into account only techniques used by the mother, and the third incorporating only observations of monkeys other than the mother.
Poisson regression models showing the impact of observed technique (OT) of various types (see top row), developmental year and sex on practiced technique
Predictor variables
All influence no orphans
All influence with orphans
Maternal, no orphans
Maternal with orphans
Non-maternal No orphans
Non-maternal with orphans
Robust SE
Robust SE
Robust SE
Robust SE
Robust SE
Robust SE
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 2 × OT
Year 3 × OT
Year 4 × OT
Year 5 × OT
Female × OT
Resampling statistics were used to make comparisons between the efficiency of pounding versus scrubbing, and also to compare males to females with regard to the amount of (a) time spent within 40 cm of the mother, (b) time spent alone, (c) attentiveness to monkeys foraging on Luehea, and (d) attentiveness to monkeys foraging on any food within <200 cm. For each analysis, a distribution was generated by shuffling, without replacement, the values from the two compared categories within and between categories, and then calculating the difference between the category means in these resampled data sets. This process was repeated 10,000 times. The probability of obtaining the observed difference, or a more extreme difference, between means is then regarded as the P value. For example, if only five values in the set of 10,000 differences between the means of the categories in the resampled data set were equal to or more extreme than the observed difference in means, the P value would be 0.0005 for a one-tailed test, or 0.001 for a two-tailed test.
Relative efficiency of the two techniques
Scrubbing and pounding are equally efficient techniques (pounding, mean 7.8 seeds/10 s processing, SD 9.6; scrubbing mean 5.8 seeds/10 s, SD 6.2; resampling technique (see "Statistical procedures"), P = 0.40).
Distribution of techniques across the study population
Developmental trajectory
During their first Luehea season, infants picked seeds from the ends of Luehea fruits but only attempted to extract the seeds by pounding or scrubbing in 29.9% of their handling attempts on average (SD 27.2%, N = 23 monkeys with ten or more Luehea foraging observations during the first year) and attempted no form of processing in 63% of handling attempts (SD 27.0%). During year 1 and particularly in year 2, infants tried a wide variety of techniques, including in most cases both pounding and scrubbing and sometimes a pound–scrub combination, but also many inefficient actions such as juggling, tapping, dragging, slapping, rolling, spinning, twirling, shaking, scratching, bouncing on the fruit, and flailing it. During years 3–5, individuals eliminated inefficient variants, and generally settled on just one technique (pounding or scrubbing) by the time they reached age 5 (see S2), though even older animals did on rare occasion experiment with a second technique. In a sample of 10–20 observations of Luehea foraging it was typical for monkeys in their 1st or 2nd developmental years to employ about four different techniques. Over the course of the next 3 years of development, the range of techniques per monkey for a comparable sample of events dwindled from about 2–3 different techniques to one or two techniques, and if a second technique was sometimes employed in these older animals it was usually either pounding or scrubbing rather than an ineffective variant. The mean number of techniques employed per monkey for each year declined in the following way: year 1, mean 4.0, SD 1.1, N = 6; year 2, mean 3.9, SD 2.4, N = 19; year 3, mean 2.6, SD 1.6, N = 30; year 4 mean 2.6, SD 1.7, N = 20; year 5, mean 2.2, SD 1.4, N = 17.
Impact of observed technique on the proportion of pounding, by year and sex
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Independent variable: observed techniques (maternal and non-maternal combined)
1.93** (0.67)
2.50* (1.21)
1.64** (0.53)
0.63 (0.39)
0.57* (0.27)
1.45*** (0.34)
3.28*** (0.60)
3.85** (1.24)
2.98*** (0.60)
1.96** (0.69)
1.90** (0.60)
2.79*** (0.49)
Independent variable: maternal influence
0.55 (0.73)
1.34* (0.62)
0.36 (0.29)
0.17 (0.09)
0.18* (0.08)
0.52** (0.20)
2.06*** (0.54)
2.86*** (0.80)
1.87* (0.73)
1.67*** (0.51)
1.68*** (0.52)
2.02*** (0.48)
Independent variable: non-maternal influence
1.81** (0.69)
2.45 (1.32)
1.63** (0.56)
0.66 (0.43)
0.57* (0.28)
1.42*** (0.36)
3.14*** (0.66)
3.79** (1.30)
2.96*** (0.68)
1.98* (0.79)
1.89** (0.64)
2.75*** (0.54)
There was no significant statistical difference in the impact between any consecutive years, for either maternal or non-maternal influence on practiced technique. However, the impact of non-maternal influence in years 1–3 was significantly greater than the impact in years 4–5 (coefficient 1.33, SE 0.61, P = 0.03); no such difference in impact over time existed for the maternal influence.
In general, individuals with an early bias toward one technique continued to strengthen that bias as they aged (see S2). During their fifth year of development, both males and females were using their predominant technique unaccompanied by other techniques in 94.6% of their processing events (SD 9.2%, N = 17), and in about two-thirds of cases (10 of 15 cases for which data were available for both periods), the technique strongly preferred in year 5 was the one slightly preferred in the first 2 years. However, two males exhibited a bias toward scrubbing (the maternal technique) in years 1–3, but then switched to pounding, the technique used by their male peers, in year 3 or 4. Two offspring and two close associates of one adult female used her preferred aberrant and inefficient technique (pounding with the foot), but later settled on either scrubbing or normal pounding as the predominant technique (see S1).
Sex differences
Between-sex comparison of the percentage of time focal monkeys spent in proximity
% Time spent with mother*
% Time spent alone**
Female mean
Male mean
P value
Female mean
Male mean
P value
Year 1
8.1 (2)
14.8 (2)
11.5 (2)
6.9 (2)
Year 2
3.3 (5)
5.7 (6)
24.3 (5)
18.3 (6)
Year 3
3.5 (9)
1.8 (12)
28.2 (9)
22.6 (12)
Year 4
2.7 (5)
2.3 (7)
22.9 (5)
24.3 (7)
Year 5
4.8 (5)
1.4 (4)
29.5 (5)
23.0 (4)
Percentage of Luehea foraging bouts in which the forager looked at other Luehea foragers within a radius of 400 cm
Age (years)
Female mean (N)
Male mean (N)
P value (two-tailed)
9.7 (2)
8.8 (2)
11.7 (6)
9.5 (11)
5.7 (12)
11.0 (16)
4.3 (8)
6.7 (8)
8.9 (8)
9.6 (6)
Comparison of males and females with regard to the percentage of foraging bouts by neighbors within 200 cm to which they visually attended
Age (months)
Female mean (N)
Male mean (N)
P value (two-tailed)
27 (3)
15 (2)
36 (5)
50 (4)
47 (9)
49 (4)
47 (8)
45 (6)
42 (7)
54 (4)
46 (9)
51 (6)
41 (12)
40 (7)
40 (10)
43 (8)
43 (10)
37 (8)
39 (9)
43 (10)
41 (12)
39 (10)
48 (10)
43 (9)
37 (8)
42 (7)
39 (8)
42 (7)
43 (7)
43 (7)
39 (5)
49 (5)
43 (4)
43 (4)
40 (5)
45 (4)
42 (5)
58 (2)
49 (2)
66 (2)
Conformity to maternal technique
Using data on the most recent available Luehea-processing season from all individuals of all ages whose maternity was known (N = 106), subjects were significantly likely to use the same technique as their mothers (Fisher's exact, P = 0.001). This result was significant for the 48 females considered alone (P = 0.002), but not for the 58 males (P = 0.18).
Advantages of using a longitudinal study design in capuchins for investigating social learning
With the noteworthy exception of the early Japanese macaque research (Itani and Nishimura 1973), most research seeking to demonstrate social influence on food processing techniques in wild primate populations has employed either the group contrasts approach or a developmental approach in ape species that have semi-solitary and/or fission fusion social structures. In the case of the group contrasts studies (Whiten et al. 1999; van Schaik et al. 2003a), social influence was assumed when the researchers deemed it improbable that the patterning of traditions between sites was due to genetic or ecological factors. Also, the amount of time spent associating with non-dependent conspecifics was correlated with the number of traditions at a site, under the assumption that having greater exposure to models would enhance the efficacy of social learning (van Schaik 2003; van Schaik et al. 2003a, b). However, the behavioral practices and association patterns of individual animals were not presented in these studies. Therefore, it was impossible to make strong inferences in these studies about which individuals were transmitting practices to which other individuals, the ages at which behavioral practices are most likely to be socially influenced, or the circumstances that make social transmission more or less likely to occur.
Longitudinal developmental studies, if properly conducted, can provide a richer source of insight into the behavioral processes affecting the acquisition of behaviors than is possible in the group contrast studies or in short-term cross-sectional studies of the distribution of behavioral traits. Primate species differ widely in their social structures, so that there is much variation in the amount of exposure that individuals have to group members of various age–sex classes within groups, the amount of home range overlap between individuals in a community, and the amount of contact between social groups.
The difference between the social structures of capuchin monkeys and those of chimpanzees and orangutans (the two ape species for which there are developmental data in free-ranging animals) affords both advantages and disadvantages for evaluating the role of social influence. Because capuchins travel as large, cohesive groups, it is possible to collect data on a much larger sample of individuals than is possible for studies of apes, but it is also more difficult to disentangle the sources of social influence in a group size of 37 capuchins, compared to a typical foraging party size of two orangutans (van Schaik et al. 2003b) or 5–6 chimpanzees (Newton-Fisher et al. 2000) who regularly associate. While it is impossible to say which individual animals were the primary models [i.e,. the model(s) having the most influence, regardless of time spent in proximity] for any particular capuchin monkey, it is possible at least to measure the level of exposure to each model and to identify which techniques were observed most often. A major advantage of the capuchin research setting, compared to the chimpanzee or orangutan setting, is that capuchins forage cohesively when eating fruit, visiting the same trees simultaneously (Fragaszy et al. 2004), whereas subjects within a particular orangutan or chimpanzee community may have quite different core areas and do not often visit the same feeding sites during the same time periods. Even capuchin monkeys residing in adjacent social groups visit the same fruiting trees, though never at the same time. So, it can safely be assumed that the different monkeys in the same population are not adopting different foraging techniques because of subtle ecological differences in the quality of the fruits.
Interpretation of the results
Even though the regression model presented in this paper indicates that observed technique (i.e., the technique to which the animal has the greatest exposure due to spatial relations during foraging) predicts the technique practiced, these data are observational rather than experimental, and it is of course possible that the two variables are not causally related, but merely correlated. However, several additional observations lend credence to the argument that this is likely to be a causal relationship rather than a statistical artifact. Here, I will consider whether the reverse causality is plausible, and also consider whether some third unmeasured factor is likely to explain the association between observed and practiced techniques.
The reverse prediction would be that the practiced technique has an effect on what the animals have an opportunity to observe. One way that such a situation might arise is for animals to identify with those who behave similarly to themselves and then sort themselves spatially to preferentially associate with similar-acting animals. However, given that there are so many dimensions along which dyads can be similar or dissimilar, including many variants of social communicative behavior (Perry and Manson 2008) that are linked to the alliance structure of the group, it seems implausible that the monkeys would sort themselves spatially according to the preference for a particular food-processing technique. Also, the fact that social learning of food processing behaviors has been documented in captive studies of many species including capuchins (Fragaszy et al. 2004; Dindo et al. 2007) lends plausibility to the interpretation that observation of others' foraging techniques can influence which techniques are used.
Third variables that are commonly considered likely to affect both observed and practiced techniques are (a) genetic similarity, and (b) ecological factors promoting similar trial-and-error learning responses in individuals. It is impossible to completely rule out the possibility that genetic factors make individual monkeys show a slight propensity toward adopting one of the two techniques. However, all individuals in the sample are certainly capable of executing both techniques and 85% of individuals use both techniques during the first 2 years of life. It seems highly unlikely that individual genetically based biases could explain the statistically significant observed pattern, in which individuals end up adopting the technique they see performed most often. In order for genetic differences to explain such a pattern, we would have to assume that individuals bearing the genes biasing them toward the use of a particular technique also preferentially associate with one another in foraging contexts. The most plausible way in which this could occur is if individuals preferentially foraged with their primary kin. However, in fact, young capuchins begin to associate preferentially with peers quite early in life. Only 7% of 1- and 2-year-old individuals in my sample for whom parentage was known and for which there was sufficient behavioral data (N = 14) had a parent as one of their top three associates during Luehea processing, and on average, only 0.9 of their top three associates was related at a level of r ≥ 0.25, despite the fact that capuchins typically have many siblings in the group in this population (Perry et al. 2008). Of these 14 individuals, three had a same-sexed adult as the nearest neighbor during foraging and the other 11 had a same-sexed juvenile as the nearest neighbor (three of which were paternal half-siblings).
The second class of variables that might cause a non-causal correlation between observed and practiced technique is ecological variables affecting the efficacy of different processing techniques. It could be hypothesized that subtle differences in the properties of fruits might make scrubbing more effective in some fruits, and pounding more effective in other fruits, so that animals who foraged together more often might encounter fruits with the same properties, resulting in similarities in style among frequent associates due to similar feedback that these individuals received in trial-and-error learning. This sort of hypothesis can be discounted in the current data set for two reasons. First, no significant difference in effectiveness of technique was found between pounding and scrubbing that could bias independent learning toward a particular outcome via operant conditioning. Second, there was no difference in the exposure of pounders versus scrubbers toward particular patches of Luehea that could provide differential experience between these two classes of foragers. Pounders and scrubbers of the same group visited the same Luehea trees at the same time, and there was also extensive overlap in the usage of these feeding sites between adjacent groups of monkeys.
The findings that (1) individuals do not settle into their final technique until around year 5 (or, at least, do not stop using the non-preferred technique till then), and (2) most individuals handle over 1,000 Luehea fruits per year of life, indicate that capuchins require a large amount of social exposure and experience before they systematically prefer the technique observed most. It is possible, of course, that social influence has more or less impact, and operates on a different time scale, for tasks in which there is more of a difference in feeding return for alternative techniques, or for skills that are more difficult to acquire by individual learning. The lack of a sharp drop-off in the impact of observed technique on practiced technique from one year to the next over the 5-year period suggests that there is no sharply defined critical period when social influence affects choice of the Luehea processing technique that will be preferred in adulthood. However, earlier exposure (years 1–3) does seem to be slightly more important than later exposure.
Comparison with other studies of conformity: sex differences and comparative perspectives
The sex difference in the influence of social exposure is puzzling. Similar results in chimpanzees (Lonsdorf et al. 2004) have been explained not by the amount of exposure to maternal techniques, but rather by the relative attentiveness of males and females. In this study neither time spent in proximity nor visual attentiveness to foraging monkeys explains the sex difference in tendency to conform. De Waal's (2001) "Bonding- and Identification-based Observational Learning Model" suggests that individuals obtain an intrinsic pleasure from copying the actions of individuals with whom they have special bonds (such as the mother or close companions), even when there is no advantage of copying the particular behavioral variant in question. It could be, then, that these philopatric female capuchins are more motivated than males are to identify with groupmates, and particularly with their mothers and other female kin, and hence are more influenced by what they observe others do. It might be expected that male capuchins would identify more with other males than with females and hence would be more prone to copying males than females are. The analyses presented here do not clearly address the issue of which sex model is most influential to males as opposed to females, but this would be an interesting topic for future research.
Conformity biases have been documented in a number of taxa, though the word is not used in quite the same way in all studies. For example, guppies follow the group majority when seeking foraging routes (Day et al. 2001). Recently, Whiten and van Schaik (2007) have made the claim that although conformity in the sense of "following the majority" may be widespread taxonomically, chimpanzees and humans are unique in that they converge on the behavioral variant that is most common in the group, even if they have alternative behaviors in their individual repertoires that accomplish the same goal just as efficiently. The capuchin data presented here, as well as recent data on Norway rat food choices (in which rats ignored previous knowledge about what foods were toxic or unpalatable in order to eat what they saw a model eat: Galef and Whiskin 2008) show that other species may also let a desire to conform to what they have seen override individually attained knowledge. The finding that social cues are often used even when alternative reliable sources of information are present is fascinating, and clearly more research is needed to determine the range of circumstances that cause animals to conform.
I would like to thank the following field assistants for contributing observations to this data set: J.C. Ordoñez J., W. Lammers, C. Carlson, H. Gilkenson, M. Kay, A. Fuentes J., C. Gault, S. Herbert, K. Feilen, C. Mitchell, M. Milstein, G. Dower, D. Kerhoas-Essens, L. Johnson, S. Hyde, E. Kennedy, S. Kessler, F. Campos, A. Bjorkman, I. Godoy, N. Donati, J. Vandermeer, H. Ruffler, L. Beaudrot, J. Broesch, M. Bergstrom, J. Butler, W. Meno, K. Potter, J. Williams, T. Lord, C. Schmitt, N. Parker, K. Ratliff, and B. Pav. I am particularly grateful to H. Gilkenson and W. Lammers for managing the field site. This project is based on work supported by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, The Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation (grant No. 0613226), and the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation. X. Chen and P. Ender of the ATS statistical consulting lab at UCLA assisted with the analysis. E. Wikberg and W. Lammers helped to compile the data. I thank the Costa Rican park service (MINAE), the Area de Conservacion Tempisque-Arenal, Hacienda Pelon de la Bajura, Hacienda Brin D'Amour, and the residents of San Ramon de Bagaces for permission to work on their land. J. Manson, J. Silk, X. Chen and three anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was performed in compliance with the laws of Costa Rica, and the protocol was approved by the UCLA animal care committee (ARC#2005-084).
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.


text: The analyst also argues oral arguments related to the question of whether Bank of America is liable for the actions of Countrywide, which it acquired in 2008 are "a potential inflection point in the case." Those arguments are set to begin on Jan. 9. An MBIA spokesman declined to comment and spokespeople for Bank of America did not respond to a request for comment. -- Written by Dan Freed in New York. Follow @dan_freed

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Right Area, Wrong Property: Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a New Home
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure page for more info.
You may be viewing a new home in your ideal area, but that should not blind you to potential problems when you view a property. Even if a property is in the perfect location, there are many checks that you should make to ensure that it is the right property for you.
Here are some of the mistakes that you should definitely keep in mind the next time you view a property to ensure you only put in an offer when you are absolutely certain that a new home is right for you.
Choosing a Property that Won't Be Suitable in the Future
One of the main things you will want to think about when you first view a property is whether this is somewhere that will still be suitable for you in years to come. Of course, you can always move at a later date, but if your heart is set on a particular area, it may be a better idea to find the right home from the start.
One of the big questions to ask is whether it is going to be large enough to house your growing family? While two bedrooms might be fine now, is this going to be big enough a few years down the line?
Not Checking the Possibility to Add an Extension
If the property is not large enough, but you really like everything else about it, you may want to consider building an extension. If so, you will want to find out about any restrictions that are in place or any other possible problems that could prevent you from adding another room above or beside the property.
For example, if it is a listed building, extensions and even minor changes may be a lot harder. Or the previous owners may have already applied for planning permission and been refused.
Missing Serious Issues
Check the property in detail for signs of any serious issues that could become problematic after you have purchased it. For example, look out for signs of damp, subsidence and other issues like the condition of the plumbing and the roof. You may want to hire an inspector to look over it for you if you are unsure about anything.
Buying a Property in the Wrong Position
The position of the property can also make it more attractive. For example, a south-facing property is usually more desirable because it will allow in more light and be warmer in the winter months. It may also make the possibility to add solar panels to the roof a better option.
Not Finding Out About the Neighbors
Neighbors come and go, so this should not be a deal breaker. However, try and find out if there are any ongoing disputes with the neighbors, especially over issues such as trees, fences, noise, etc.
The last thing you want is to move into your dream property and then find out you are living next to the neighbors from hell. The seller may not mention any issues, so ask around, do some research and check over the garden fence.
Not Considering the Nearby Area
Although you may have your heart set on a particular town or county, the area surrounding your property is also very important. Look out for potential problems. For example, is there a nightclub nearby that could disturb you? Will hundreds of rowdy revelers be making their way past your property every Friday night at one o'clock in the morning?
How far will you have to catch the nearest bus into town, and how frequently will they come? Is there a shop nearby that you can walk to? Is there are nearby school for your future children?
There may well be more options in the area, so ask your estate agent. Visit estate agent websites to find out about other nearby properties (view more from Alan de Maid to find out if there are other attractive properties in your chosen area).
Spending Too Much
Finally, the one mistake you will really want to avoid is paying too much. You will already have a budget, but don't spend more than you have to. Check the prices of the other properties in the area before you make an offer, and don't just go with the asking price without thinking carefully about it first otherwise you could end up wasting a lot of money.
Avoid These Mistakes to Find Your Ideal Property
These mistakes can get in the way of finding your perfect new home, so always keep them in mind when you view a property for the first time. Don't get so enthusiastic because your new home is in the perfect area that you end up making an offer without thinking the whole thing through. Take your time, go over all the possible issues, and make the right decision.
Photo courtesy of: midascode
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text:
Stockholm New
The international, English language, multiple award-winning fashion and style magazine Stockholm New was published in a total of twelve issues over the years 1992-2002. It's a well-documented claim that the magazine was trendsetting, even groundbreaking, not only in Sweden but internationally. It's also generally acknowledged that Stockholm New played a key role in the creation of a new contemporary Sweden image" — that of a modern, cutting edge scene for fashion, trends, design, and a wide range of creative expressions.
Now the best of the classic material from Stockholm New has been selected for publication in a massive (more than 496 pages hardcover) coffee table book, along with a great deal of newly produced exclusive material — fashion, nudes, landscapes, architecture, still-lifes, art, cultural history, portraits, historic photography and more.
Among the contributing photographers are Mikael Jansson, Sølve Sundsø, Julia Hetta, Elisabeth Toll, Frederik Lieberath, Andreas Larsson, Pelle Bergström, John Scarisbrick, Dawid, Magnus Mårding, Gösta Reiland, Lee Jenkins, Jan Welters, Mikael Olsson, Enrique Badelescu, Denise Grünstein, Ewa-Marie Rundquist, Björn Keller, and John Akehurst.
is currently backordered. You may still purchase it now but it won't ship until it becomes available again.


text:
News By Tag
Industry News
News By Place
Industry News
NDX Hires Justin S. Coleman as Director of Sales for the Publishing Group
"With wide-ranging experience in the publishing industry and a great track record in business development, Justin is a terrific addition to the NDX team," said Michael Lombardo, Co-founder and President of NDX. "His proven ability to drive sales as well as train and lead a sales team is a major plus and we look forward to his contributions to growing our company."
Coleman served most recently as Director, Business Development, of Tactician Media, LLC, a provider of web-based products for the planning and placement of print media for newspapers, retailers and direct mailers. Previously he worked in various development roles for KMOV/BELO Interactive, Verve Wireless and the Hearst Corporation/
"NDX is a dynamic, growing company in a high-performance segment of the publishing industry," said Coleman. "I'm especially eager to get Snapshot for Publishers out to the market because it is a strong tool for publishers, both large and small."
Coleman is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a BS degree.
About NDX:
NDX is an advertising technology and services company. The company provides the leading data management platform for the publishing industry in North America. NDX provides a variety of demand-side ad-tech solutions to publishers, retailers, agencies and other marketers of consumer goods and services. The NDX technology platform includes a proprietary database, Source, which maintains current, reliable audience data for more than 100 million households. NDX Studio and Snapshot are robust data management tools for publishers and advertisers used to evaluate and manage their targeted media placements. NDX is headquartered in Chesterfield, MO with operations based in Chicago. Visit us at www.NDXus.com to learn more.
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text:
No one can explain the mystery of Nature. NOT EVEN NASA.
One of their studies is on how certain plants can remove harmful toxic elements from the air and improve our indoor environments.
When I saw the list, I realized that we actually have many of them growing at our home! Which makes me really excited to share with you from first hand experience!
So here's a collection of 12 easiest indoor plants, plus some tips and fun facts for you!
Why choose these 12 plants?
- they are extremely easy – almost impossible to kill really, and believe me I have killed plenty of plants, yet these have survived my brown thumbs
- they are small to medium in size, so can be grown in small spaces
- these all require relatively low light – we may not notice it, but our indoor environments lack natural light, which is why so many indoor plants look stressed and gets sick with mildew or bugs although you have been good with watering!
Ready to meet some new friends?
1, 2 & 3. Spathiphyllum cochlearispathum / Peace Lily, Sansevieria javanica / Snake Plant, Chlorophytum comosum / Spider Plant
The Peace Lily have such a beautiful name and never ending flowers, it is also the most effective air purification plant on NASA's list! This little plant from Southern Mexico does require more frequent watering than everything else here.
Sansevarias come from Africa, Madagascar, India or Indonesia. This is one of the smallest, grows to only 6″-8″ tall. It sends out runners, which can be rooted easily. The thick leaves store water, which means if you forget, it is quite forgiving!
The Spider Plant is great for brighten up our homes with the beautiful variegated foliage. Such a delicate looking plant is surprisingly kill-proof. It carries plantlets on the arching flower stems, which can be planted to create a new plant!
You may also love: A Super Easy Way to grow gorgeous indoor plants in glass bottles and water!
A Super Easy Way to grow gorgeous indoor plants in glass bottles and water.
4 & 5. Epipremnum aureum / Pathos, Asplenium bulbiferum / Mother Fern
Picture the jungles of Jurassic Park where vines coming down from the sky, they are most likely Epipremnums! Some of the easiest indoor plants to grow, the foliage has many color variations from bright green to silvery green.
Ferns remind us of lush forests and waterfalls. If you can't find Mother fern, try Boston Fern, Maidenhair fern or Button Fern. They are easier to find and grow beautifully indoors. Like the Peace lily, most ferns prefer regular water and moist soil.
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text:
Look at other dictionaries:
somnipathy — sämˈnipəthē noun ( es) Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary somni + pathy : abnormal or disordered sleep (as in a hypnotic state) * * * somˈnipathy [See somni and pathy.] 'Sleep from sympathy, or by the process of mesmerism' ( … Useful english dictionary
somnipathy — noun A sleep disorder … Wiktionary
somnipathy — som·nip·a·thy … English syllables
somnopathy — Somnipathy Som*nip a*thy, n. [L. somnus sleep + Gr. ? a suffering of the body, fr. ?, ?, to suffer.] Sleep from sympathy, or produced by mesmerism or the like. [Written also {somnopathy}.] [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Somniloquy — Som*nil o*quy, n. A talking in sleep; the talking of one in a state of somnipathy. [R.] Coleridge. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Somnopathy — Som*nop a*thy, n. Somnipathy. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Sleep disorder — Classification and external resources ICD 10 F51, G47 ICD 9 … Wikipedia
Major depressive episode — Classification and external resources ICD 10 F32.2 F32.3 ICD 9 … Wikipedia
sleep disorder — noun A medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Syn: somnipathy … Wiktionary
hypnosis — Synonyms and related words: Arica movement, Erhard Seminars Training, New Consciousness, Pentothal interview, SAT, T group, animal hypnosis, assertiveness training, autohypnosis, autosuggestion, behavior modification, behavior therapy,… … Moby Thesaurus


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|Rhisiart IV of Wales
| 18th King of Wales
|King of Wales
|King of Wales
|2nd November 1870 - 3rd May 1904
|20th June 1871
|Rhisiart III
|Principality of Morgannwg
|2nd November 1870 - 3rd May 1904
|Rhisiart III of Morgannwg
|Iorwerth of Morgannwg
|Grand Duchess Catherine Romanov of Russia
| Prince Iorwerth of Morgannwg
Princess Alexandra of Wales
Princess Gwenllian of Wales
Princess Catherine of Wales
|Full name
|Rhisiart Ioan Auguste Cystennin Morgannwg
|Posthumous name
|Rhisiart Cloff (the Lame)
|House of Morgannwg
|Rhisiart Siarl Odoardo Cystennin Morgannwg
|Maria Sidonia Wettin
| 20th July 1853
Palas Sycharth
| 3rd May 1904
Palas Cwm Hyfryd
|Royal Crypts, St Davids Cathedral
|Roman Catholic
Rhisiart was the last of the Ricardian monarchs and the last monarch of the pre-modern era, his reign encompasing the last of the 19th Century and ushering in the birth of the 20th Century. Rhisiart was a different monarch from his father. Hated by Rhisiart III, excluded from Privy Council duties until almost the last months of his father's life, Rhisiart IV was a lover of Byzantine politics, the murky underbelly of life in court. Easily swayed, easily dominated (first by the Prince of Gwynedd and later by his wife) Rhisiart, nonetheless, held strong views and many subjects and as king was prone to outbursts which led to major state upsets (such as the attempt to go to war over Ireland). Lame as a result of a childhood accident he loved none of the pursuits his father enjoyed, and indeed, such was the poisonous relationship with his father that he struggled to form an attachment with his own children, leaving his heir, Iorwerth to find father figures elsewhere. A complicated man living in an increasingly complicated era, his reign would see the height of political violence, the assassination of his Queen and finally the birth of a modern Parliament (although its birth was perilous)
Early Life
Born on the 20th July 1853 to an absent father and doting mother, the young prince was brought up as was traditional in his mother's court. What was more unusual is that his parents unlike previous monarchs had a distant cold relationship with each other and his father was more distant than was the norm for parenting standards of the day. Brought up in a decadent garish court Rhisiart loved the colour and pageantry of monarchy. His early education was hampered by his mothers disinclination to formal education and then following a childhood accident which saw him lamed his military education was then also put back. As Rhisiart entered his teenage years he discovered his fathers dislike of him. The young Prince of Gwynedd was often given the seats of honour at formal meals. 1865 was a formative year for the young Rhisiart, with his father's illness following his visit to Africa and the apparent favouritism of the young and highly ambitious Prince Gruffud of Gwynedd (born 1839 and 14 years the Edling's senior) started the backroom politics which would dominate the final five years of Rhisiart III's brief reign. Calls to elevate the 13 year old Prince to the Privy Council however fell on deaf ears and the young Edling was instead to be influenced by more corupt ministers and junior nobility who frequented his mothers court. At this court he was treated as the Edling and fawned over by the more sycophantic courtiers. His mother in contrast to his father indulged his every desire. The young man grew into his teenage years as an indulged scion to an older more deadlier House. The rest of the nobility watched warily unsure if he would be able to step up to the throne when his ailing father died.
King of Wales
On the 2nd November 1870 the moment many had been dreading happened. The King, Rhisiart III died. Across the capital Church bells rang out in a continuous peal for an hour before falling silent. The man stood at the kings hand as he died, the hand that removed the ring of Cystennin (symbol of the Princes of Morgannwg since 1519) and then checked that the king had indeed stopped breathing was by custom the Edling, heir to the dying King. Rhisiart III however was attended to by the Prince of Gwynedd, his heir in all but law. The new Rhisiart IV was in the Palas Sycharth holding a ball in honour of his mother Queen Maria. When the news reached him the following day of his fathers death he made no immediate moves to return to Caerdydd, instead allowing Gruffud time to enact Rhisiart's will. That will endowed the son of his enemy Gruffud with considerable land and money in South Wales as well as returning to him the full honour of his father's House. Left to him were several artifacts that had until now been passed father to son by the Princes of Morgannwg. Also stipulated in the will was the position of the President of the Privy Council. This was now endowed onto Gruffud as we the title of Lord Protector (as Rhisiart IV was still technically underage at 17).
Unlike his father, and possibly because of his fate, Gruffud held no ambitions to be king. Brought up and treated as a son by Rhisiart III he held no grudge against the old king and had no strong feelings towards the new king, but the 31 year old Prince had strong views on duty. This inherited from his adoptive father and as such he was moved to follow through on the old kings will. Summoning the Privy Council he revealed the old Kings will to them. The Council supported Gruffud to his claim both as Protector and President. Such acquiesence made things easier. By the time that Queen Maria and Rhisiart IV had returned to Caerdydd Gruffud was firmly in control of the political apparatus.
Luckily for Gruffud, the new king was easily swayed and with a sweet word and much flattery the new King happily gave his blessing to the political settlement (much to the disappointment of his mother)
The populace at large however were less sanguine. Riots in the capital met the news of the new king and an assassination attempt followed as the king moved about the city. Using troops to crush the riots did little to endear Gruffud to the population of Caerdydd and did less to endear the new king to political liberals.
With a new unmarried king, Gruffud as the Lord President looked to find a suitable bride for the king. Following the grandiose coronation held on the 20th June 1871 (the budget for which exceeded the previous three coronations combined) Rhisiart commissioned the building of a new palace. Palas Cwm Hyfryd. Located on the outskirts of the capital it was far enough away from the smog and pollution of the capital. Prince Gruffud occupied the former Royal Palace of Caerdydd utilizing it as the Court of the Lord President (in the modern era the palace would become the official residence of the Chancellor of Wales). The same year would see modernisation works started on the Palaces of Caerdydd, Caerfilli, Harlech and Caernarfon (with Garth Celyn and Sycharth being modernised as the reign progressed). Under the steady hand of Gruffud, Welsh politics continued to move along much at the same pace as that under Rhisiart III. The Senedd continued to develop more confidence, if not powers, and under the guiding hand of a series of competent noble Chancellors (Lord Meirionnydd, the Earl of Dean and the Duke of March - Chancellors between 1865-1889). The Executive (in effect Gruffud) and the Legislature (Senedd) therefore got along far better than expected. Two highlights of the early years was the establishment of two more secular universities (Caerdydd and Abertawe) and the introduction of compulsory vaccinations for children. Disquiet at the reign of such a disinterested monarch continued however and in 1875 more riots broke out across Wales, with riots in Amywthig, Ludlow, Caernarfon, Abertawe and more in Caerdydd. That year would also see another assassination attempt on Rhisiart.
Marriage and the Dynastic Standings
Worry at the continued marriage-less state of the monarch and his lack of heirs (his declared heir at this time was his younger brother Prince Dafydd) Gruffudd entered into talks with both the German Kaiser and the Russian Tsar. After almost five years of indirect and some on/off matches the dynastic situation in Wales had changed. Prince Dafydd had died in 1878 in Caerodor which had made Rhisiart's niece, Princess Elen de Boubon of Spain (Cystennin's granddaughter) the direct line heir although many preferred the Welsh raised son of Prince Dafydd (King Arthur's youngest son 68 years old in 1878) Prince Iwan Xavier Morgannwg (whose mother had been an Infanta of Portugal). Such a tangled dynastic succession rapidly caused the creation of the "Spanish" and "Portuguese" camps in the Welsh court as supporters of both claims jockeyed for position. Gruffud seeing the potential for conflict should Rhisiart die childless sought an end to this. Eventually the Tsarina Catherine was chosen. Granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and niece to Tsar Alexander II she was brought up in the strict autocratic world of the Russian court. Bringing her to Court and introducing her to the King had the desired results. Queen-Dowager Maria approved of the match and Rhisiart was prepared to marry on that basis alone. Married on the 12th June 1880 the new Queen moved into the Kings Residence in the grounds of the Palas Cwm Hyfryd (not yet complete). Submissive at first to the will of her husband and his chief minister, the young Queen would soon grow to be a formidable member of the Welsh Royal Court.
Relations with the United Kingdom - The Irish Question
During the reign of Rhisiart III relations with Victoria and the British State had been cordial and almost friendly. The bad relationship which Rhisiart had inherited due to the Civil War soon evaporated. This relationship would not continue into his sons reign. The Queen-Dowager, no influence on her husband had more than enough on her son. Although Gruffud fought to continue the close relationship with the British, the King would endeavour to damage it as often as he could (something which made the bankers and businessmen side more and more with the political liberals and advocate greater powers for the Senedd)
Throughout the 1880's however the Anglo-Welsh relationship soured more and more. The reason? The Irish Question. Ireland, Roman Catholic like Wales, conquered by the English (like Wales). Ireland was the romantic "what if" of Welsh politics. What if an independent Catholic power was to exist on the other side of the Irish Sea? What if the two Catholic nations combined to deal the Sais a bloody nose. As the 19th Century grew the Irish Question loomed large in both Great Britain and in Wales. Gruffud as Lord President of the Privy Council exercised his considerable powers to keep at the very least the status quo in existence. He knew it was not in Wales' interest to engage the English in war over Ireland. He knew the needs of the Welsh economy depended on a market for its goods and the English market, hungry for steel, coal and coke was financing the Welsh economy. With his death in 1887 however that calming controlling hand was removed. The Queen Catherine, emboldened by her husbands weakness moved in where the dead Prince of Gwynedd had stood, and the old Queen-Dowager was pushed to the political sidelines. The result was the with the failure of the 1893 Irish Home Rule bill in the Anglo-Scottish state Rhisiart was encouraged to fight for his "Irish cousins". The declaration of war was delivered and the Welsh fleet steamed into the Irish Sea, preventing British ships from landing in the Southern Irish ports (though unable to prevent landings in Belfast). Victoria returned the declaration of war and the British fleet sent ships to the Irish Sea. With two fleets circling each other nervously, both states waited nervously for hostilities to break out.
Peace - For Now
Luckily both fleets were commanded by men more sensible than their monarchs and parliaments. Neither fleet engaged the other and after two months of standoffs the Welsh fleet returned to port. The Chancellor during this period had been the weak and ineffective Earl of Henffordd, now with the threat of war, the more steady Duke of March took back the reigns of power. The position of Chancellor had grown with importance since the death of the Lord President as Rhisiart had taken on that role for himself leaving effective political control in the hands of the Senedd and the Chancellor. The Peace Conference was held on the Isle of Man in 1895 with Rhisiart attending in person. The Treaty of Man declared peace between the two Kingdoms, but failed to address the single vital point. Wales had been prepared to go to war over the sake of Ireland. A precedent had been set which future generations took note of.
Political Turmoil - Death of a Queen
During Rhisiart's reign Wales was regularly engulfed in political violence. Under Gruffud the kingdom was governed much as it had been under Rhisiart III, and the more politically astute had begun to chaff under that regime even if they had endured it out of loyalty to a more fair minded monarch. Under Rhisiart IV this system frequently broke down. Riots in 1870, 75, 81, 87, 96, and almost continually from 1898 onwards were symptoms of his reign. Under guidance from his wife Rhisiart instituted in 1881 the UDC or the Secret Police (an idea borrowed from Russia). The UDC or the Undeb Deuddeg Cleddyfau (Union of 12 Swords) soon grew to be hated. Throughout this period the role of the Senedd was frequently highlighted. Its position in controlling the Army and Navy was vital in it not being discounted (as would have been the case under Rhisiart I or II) but even so it still lacked the dignity or authority of for example the Westminster Parliament. During Rhisiart's reign however it would develop and grow into a more potent force.
Two things however undermined this progress. In 1887 during another round of riots in the capital, the Welsh Republican movement tried to kill the king. The bomb however only succeeded in killing the Lord President. His death was a crushing blow to political liberal trends in Wales. Reactionary, controlling, he was nonetheless the most liberal political figure in Wales. Prepared to meet and discuss with any political wing. With his death the king was free to make policy judgments without the Lord President vetoing them. Also into the breach left by the Prince's death moved the Queen. With her Russian upbringing she was no fan of democracy and encouraged her husband to defend his autocratic rights. The other event was the Anglophile Plot. In 1897 a small group of Anglophile nobles, bankers, businessmen and politicians attempted to replace the King with his 12 year old son, the Edling Iorwerth. Though the plot itself failed the event poisoned the Kings relationship with the Senedd. The final straw was the assassination of the Queen. 1901 saw another attack on the position of the monarchy and this time the Republican's managed a coup. Riding in her carriage to the Royal Sports Ground on the outskirts of the city (for the Ladies Day Horse Racing) two men raced out in front of the carriage as it approached the Royal Entrance to the race track. Causing the carriage to halt a third man threw a small bomb into the carriage which exploded killing the Queen and her two youngest daughters, the princess' Gwenllian and Catherine. With their deaths and with the republican movement seemingly gathering strength Rhisiart dismisses Parliament. Ruling through the Privy Council and via the Civil Service Rhisiart rules directly for the next three years.By 1902 the chaos in the capital forces the king to retire from Palas Cwm Hyfryd to the greater security offered by the Royal Fortress Caerfilli, armed as it was with the elite units of the Welsh Army. In 1903 the leading Parliamentarians, including Catwg ap Ardal MacAntaine (Ty Isod Member for Llyn), Lord Fyrsil ap Eseia Diamond (Ty Isod member for Hendy Gwyn) and Lord Pritchard of Abergaveny met together to discuss the growing chaos in Wales (which had spread to all the major cities). Taking their grievances to the King, they forced him to recognise the need for the Senedd. Reluctantly, the King agreed. Shortly after this Lord Pritchard died, leaving the Chancellor (Tomos Vaughan the first political appointment to the post) to dominate the new parliament called "at the Kings Liberty" in 1904.
The New Political Settlement
The new Senedd met for the first time on the 23rd June 1904 in the Lord Presidents Palace (Palas Caerdydd). New ground was also cut in the city centre to build a new Civic Centre, a building complex to house the new parliament.
Under the terms imposed on the King by the politicians the new Senedd met to discuss Wales' first written constitution. Under the terms of this several new innovations were introduced.
- Bicameral Legislature; The Senedd was to be split into an Upper and Lower House. Political control would remain with the Lower House which would also hold the rank and title of Chancellor. The Upper House would hold the title Lord Chamberlaine and would act as a revising chamber.
- Enfranchisment of all males over the age of 21 regardless of land owning capacity.
- Control of the Civil Service transfers from the Privy Council to the Senedd
- The King remains head of the Government and Privy Council giving him right of veto over moves made by Senedd, but there are limits to this power. The right to veto over tax or economic policy is removed from the Kings prerogative.
Turn of the Century and the Way Forward
With the birth of the 20th Century Wales was moving forward although at a slower pace than her British neighbours. Ideas had been trickling across the border and by the end of the 19th Century major changes had started to occur in Welsh cities. Sewers, sanitation, clean drinking water, the expansion of the railways, greater access to medical treatments. Wales was moving forward, and this was seen in its highest point by the Constitution of 1904. For the first time Wales had a written constitution detailing the rights and powers of the king (which remained impressive) against the powers of the elected legislature (which had grown considerably since the time of Arthur)
Rhisiart's legacy was a mixed one. Deeply unpopular with most levels of society his death was not mourned as his fathers was. However, he left a Wales greatly changed from that of his father. The country had modernised, its armed forces were keeping up with the advancements of the British, French and Germans, its Empire whilst not large was enough to give Wales a modicum of respect around the negotiating table. Her industry helped feed the needs of the neighbouring British Empire. Yet the deep political turmoil that started under Arthur and had bubbled under the surface during the reigns of Cystennin and Rhisiart III erupted under Rhisiart IV. Republican movements, liberal movements, anarchists, these all made their mark during his reign. Whilst the Lord President, Gruffud was alive a lid was maintained on the worst of the political pressures. The Lord President whilst a deeply conservative politician had seen the death of this biological father to what was effectively political violence and therefore he strove to avoid more of that. With his death to Republican terrorists the Queen moved into the political vacuum left. Russian both by birth and by thought, Queen Catherine encouraged Rhisiart's autocratic tendencies. Weak-willed himself this meant often that the Kings views were more likely to be the Queens and this led to greater control of the Civil Service and the political machine. The plot to replace Rhisiart with Iorwerth and then the death of the Queen removed all trust in the Senedd from the Kings point of view. However without the Queen the King no longer had a taste for life. His final three years of life were spend in the Palas Cwm Hyfryd disinterested in affairs outside the Palace walls. His death in 1904 just before the opening of the first of a new type of Welsh Parliament was seen as auspicious though it would remain to be seen how his son, the new king, would react to the political settlement left to him by his father. The birth of a new Wales hung in the balance no one quite knowing if the whole endeavour would be stillborn.
|Preceded by:
Rhisiart III
|King of Wales
|Succeeded by:
|Ancestors of Rhisiart Ioan Auguste Cystennin Morgannwg


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Carpeted Entrance Mat, Black, 3ft. x 4ft.
NOTRAX| Zoro #: G1737653| Mfr #: 231S0034BL
Zoro #: G1737653Mfr. Part #: 231S0034BL
Zoro #: G1737653Mfr. Part #: 231S0034BL
Zoro #: G1737653Mfr. Part #: 231S0034BL
$42.59 /ea
Orders over $50.00 ship free. DetailsStandard ground shipping
Technical Specifications
|Zoro #: G1737653 Mfr #: 231S0034BL
|Fire Resistant/Fire Retardant: Not Fire Resistant or Retardant
|Mat Shape: Rectangle
|Edges: Beveled
|Mat Electrical Resistance: Electrical Properties Not Tested
|Brake Fluid Resistant: No
|Oil Resistant: No
|Antimicrobial: No
|Standards: ASTM D6540, ASTM D412, ASTM D5252-98A, ASTM D3936-05, ASTM D2240-02, ASTM D1335-05, CPSC FF 1-70
|Mat Surface Pattern: Tufted
|Indoor/Outdoor: Outdoor
|Thickness: 1/4"
|Legend: No legend
|Width: 3 ft.
|Face Weight: 17.0 oz./sq. yd.
|Length: 4 ft.
|Scrape/Dry: Scrape
|Item: Entrance Mat
|Mat Weaving: Loop Pile
|Color: Black
|Mat Backing Material: Vinyl
|Mat Surface Material: Polypropylene
|Country of Origin (subject to change): United States
Product Description
Entrance Mat, Black, Width 3 ft., Length 4 ft., Mat Shape Rectangle, Outdoor, Mat Surface Pattern Tufted, Mat Weaving Loop Pile, Mat Surface Material Polypropylene, Mat Backing Material Vinyl, Thickness 1/4 In., Edges Beveled, No Legend Legend, Antimicrobial No, Oil Resistant No, Fire Resistant/Fire Retardant Not Fire Resistant or Retardant, Mat Electrical Resistance Electrical Properties Not Tested, Brake Fluid Resistant No, Scrape/Dry Scrape, Face Weight 17.0 oz./sq. yd.


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Riad Mehdi - tv in rooms?
Mar 27, 2006, 2:43 PM
We are thinking of staying in the Riad Mehdi and I know this must sound like an awful question but my boyfriend is concerned that in all reviews read there is no mention of televisions in the rooms - can anyone help?!


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The institutional research firm picks Wipro to finish first, followed by Infosys, as it expects industry dynamics to improve in FY13-14. The Economist, however, doesn't foresee a good future for the Indian IT industry
Espirito Santo Securities (ESS) believes that the information technology (IT) industry will turn the corner in FY13-14 as clients' discretionary spending is expected to increase with companies' enhanced performance. Furthermore, the improved outlook of the United States economy is expected to result in increased order inflow to India. The report said, 'The three distinct positive comments/observations that came out post the results were: discretionary spending is picking up, FY13-14 is looking better than FY12-13 and almost all companies have increased realisation and reported better-than-expected margins'. This is despite the fact that IT budgets continue to be under pressure and are likely to be slashed. But the argument ESS puts forth is that incremental revenues will pour in from small discretionary spends.
To see our analysis on earlier ESS reports, click here.
However, we are skeptical of Indian IT industry of doing well because the focus of the re-elected American president is it to increase more American onshore jobs. There is talk of bringing some outsourcing jobs back to American shores and this could hurt the Indian IT industry in general. It is not yet known whether the impact will be felt in FY13-14 and how big it will be, but it will surely arrive. In fact, countries like Philippines and Vietnam already have a cost advantage over India, in terms of wage differentials. The Economist even carried a special section on Indian outsourcing (issue dated 19th-25th January) which states that some of the biggest outsourcers, for instance General Electric and General Motors, have already brought back some IT jobs back to American shores. The Indian IT industry has every reason to worry about this trend, especially with president Obama at the helm for another four years. The impact may not be felt in FY13-14, though. One factor that may buoy the industry is the rupee-dollar equation as Indian economy is still weak. But this is an external factor and subject to speculation.
One of the biggest beneficiaries has been Wipro, according to ESS, which believes the company to be worth Rs475 per share. Wipro, which has often (perhaps unfairly) been compared to Infosys, has recouped much of the valuation as its realisations have dramatically improved. According to ESS's report, 'Wipro's margins have increased with improvement in realisations and will be sustainable with increased efficiencies. One quarter of strong volume growth will have a magnified impact on margins'. The report further said, 'Wipro has invested over the past year to differentiate the front-end (sales) and standardise the back-end (delivery). The benefits of these are already visible in the form of improving deal traction and revenue productivity'.
ESS believes that HCL Technologies will be one of the Tier-1 IT stocks to look out for because of change in leadership which will happen in July 2013, when Vineet Nayar steps down as CEO. This is a significant event as Nayar has been associated with HCL Technologies since 2005, which is a long time.
Furthermore, the report said, "While the margin expansion has been commendable, we believe HCL Technologies will have to reinvest in the business in light of the increasing competitive intensity in the restructuring market and the company's expectations of a weakness in discretionary spends". While HCL Technologies believes that discretionary spending in its portfolio is a concern, we feel that it is also a concern for the industry as a whole. ESS believes that HCL Technologies is worth Rs748 per share.
ESS is neutral on Tata Consultancy Services and pegged its value at Rs1,450 per share.
The finance ministry and RBI should quickly lay down guidelines for banks to issue bonus shares, and also raise the FII limit to 30% for investment in PSBs, which will not only be another dose of reforms, but greatly assist the PSBs in raising fresh capital from the market
The Parliament, in its last session, passed the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012, which allows nationalised banks to issue bonus shares. However, in the absence of clear-cut guidelines either from the finance ministry or Reserve Bank of India (RBI), public sector banks (PSBs) have refrained from issuing bonus shares to its stakeholders.
The ministry and RBI should also raise the financial institutional investment (FII) limit in PSBs to 30% from 20% currently, which would help banks to raise fresh, additional capital to meet the Basel III norms.
Background of government ownership of banks:
State Bank of India (SBI) was set up on 1 July 1955 by an Act of Parliament, namely State Bank of India Act, 1955, by which SBI took over the former Imperial Bank of India. In 1960, seven former state associated banks became SBI's subsidiaries and thus eight banks were under the banner of the SBI group. Of these seven subsidiaries, two banks, namely State Bank of Indore and State Bank of Hyderabad, were recently merged with SBI, and as of now there are only six banks, including five subsidiaries, functioning under the SBI group.
The next wave of nationalisation took place in July 1969, when the country's 14 top private banks were nationalised. Six more banks were nationalised in April 1980. Out of these six, New Bank of India was merged with Punjab National Bank in 1993, leaving only 19 nationalised banks functioning as PSBs, where majority ownership rests with the central government. There is one more bank under public ownership, namely IDBI Bank, which started as Industrial Development Bank of India. IDBI Bank bean as a fully government owned term-lending institution, but was converted into a full-fledged commercial bank and re-christened IDBI Bank. In short, there are now 26 PSBs controlling more than 70% of the total banking business in the country.
Listing of public sector banks in the stock exchanges:
SBI was the first PSB to tap the stock market in December 1993, when it offered equity to the general public. Subsequently, all PSBs, barring two subsidiaries of SBI, came out with public issues and offered shares to the public over the past 10 years. Consequent to the public offering, these 24 PSBs are listed on stock exchanges.
But these PSBs have not been favoured by investors for various reasons. All of them except SBI are quoted in single-digit price earning multiples on the stock market. Though they are considered strong banks, as majority ownership rests with the central government, their valuations are low in the bourses as is the case with most PSBs. This is because these banks, since their nationalisation, have not rewarded the shareholders, except with annual dividends at pay out ratios, prescribed by the RBI. As these banks do not come under the Companies Act, 1956, they were not able to issue bonus shares as per the said Act. Though all these banks have substantial reserves in their balance sheets, there was no provision to issue bonus shares in the enactments through which they were nationalised.
Banking Amendment Bill: What are its benefits to the banking public?
Amendments affected to their Acts to provide for bonus shares:
The State Bank of India (Amendment) Act, 2010, passed in 2010, provided for SBI to issue bonus shares, and the recent enactment, The Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2012, passed in the last session of Parliament has provided for issue of bonus shares by the nationalised banks. Now that the decks have been cleared by these Acts, we can certainly expect these PSBs to consider issuing bonus shares as this will provide a boost to their market image and will help them to raise additional capital required to meet the regulatory norms under Basel III over the next couple of years.
Why issue bonus shares?
Issuing bonus shares does not in any way improve the financial position of a company, as there will not be any inflow of cash into the coffers of the company. But it helps improve the image of the company, as giving free shares is considered a reward to shareholders. The stock markets always welcome the issue of bonus shares as it is considered an investor-friendly measure, which will help the company raise fresh equity through the capital market in due course.
The issue of bonus shares is a way to provide a larger number of shares to the market as the free-float in the market increases in the same ratio as the issue of bonus shares. Besides, the prices come down proportionately. Hence, these shares might appear affordable and attract the attention of small investors, thereby widening the investor base of the company. Besides, the issue of bonus shares is an indication that the management is confident of servicing a larger capital arising out of the bonus issue. However, there is no obligation on the part of the company to pay the same percentage of dividend on the increased capital.
Banking services is a right of every individual: FM. Will RBI enforce this right for the benefit of the banking public?
Guidelines for issue of bonus shares:
While Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued detailed guidelines for issue of bonus shares by listed companies, the most important one is that which specifies that the bonus shares shall be issued only out of free reserves built out of genuine profits, or share premium collected in cash only. The reserves created by revaluation of fixed assets should not be used for this purpose. There are a number of other conditions stipulated by SEBI, which are in the interest of the shareholders and must be complied with before bonus shares are issued.
However, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) of the ministry of heavy industries & public enterprises of the Government of India has its own guidelines for issue of bonus shares by public sector undertakings (PSUs; except public sector banks). This department of the central government has been guiding the PSUs under its control to capitalise their reserves and issue bonus shares. This is because the biggest beneficiary of such an issue will be the central government, by virtue of its majority holding in all these companies.
One criteria specified by the DPE is that PSUs with reserves in excess of three times their paid-up capital should consider issuing bonus shares to shareholders. And in deference to these instructions, most PSUs (except banks, which come under the control of the finance ministry) have issued bonus shares in various ratios over the past five years. Even as late as 25 November 2011, the DPE reiterated these instructions, as it felt that "holding huge reserves does not reflect equitable capital base of the company, and these companies declare dividend on a lower capital base".
FAQs on Primary Markets - Issues by Indian Companies in India by SEBI
Details of free reserves held by PSBs as on 31 March 2012:
All the public sector banks have large reserves and are comfortably placed to issue bonus shares, though the level of reserves vary depending upon their past performance on the profitability front. The following table shows the extent of free reserves held by the 24 listed PSBs. The free reserves are clearly in excess of three times their paid up capital, the level stipulated by the central government for PSUs.
Most of these banks have improved their performance on the profitability front over the years through better management of their assets and liabilities. However, the RBI is concerned about the growing non-performing assets of these banks. It is a deterrent for issuing bonus shares liberally in the context of uncertain economic conditions prevailing in our country at present.
Increase FII investment limit from 20% to 30% in PSBs:
However, there is a dire need to create an investor-friendly image for PSBs and thus, improve their valuations on the bourses to enable these banks raise additional capital from the market to meet their capital adequacy requirements under Basel III norms. To achieve this, PSBs should not only be allowed to issue bonus shares, but the present cap of 20% for investment by FIIs in PSBs should be proportionately increased to at least 30%, in tune with the recent increase in the voting rights to 10%.
Read other articles by Gurpur.
(The author is a banking professional writing for Moneylife under the pen name 'Gurpur')
The apex court also directed DGCA to examine the tariff structure of the airlines in view of their wide range of base prices for air tickets
"The transaction fee shall not be collected from any passenger in any form or under any other name," a bench of justices DK Jain and Madan B Lokur said.
The apex court also directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to examine the tariff structure of the airlines in view of their wide range of base prices for air tickets.
"There are several bands for fixing the base price which in certain cases range from Rs1,120 to Rs36,000...We are of prima facie view that regarding wide range of basic fair, it would be necessary for the DGCA to examine the tariff structure of the airlines," the bench said.
The bench rapped the DGCA for not enforcing its own direction dated 17 December 2012 when it had restrained the airlines from charging transaction fee from passengers.
"We regret to note that despite provision is there not to charge transaction fee, the DGCA failed to enforce its own direction," the bench said, adding "It needs our immediate intervention for non-compliance of direction issued by the DGCA. The airlines cannot charge transaction fee from customers."
"We are of the view that circular of DGCA dates 17 December 2012 is still in vogue and transaction fee cannot be charged by the airlines," the bench said.
Transaction fee was introduced by the airlines after they adopted a zero commission policy for their agents. Under transaction fee, agents charge customers any amount of their choice and there is no uniformity in it.


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Evo-ERP Software is a great fit for many businesses. Find out if it's the right choice for you! Are you looking for a Evo-ERP Software demo, technical support, product or pricing information or to simply to compare Evo-ERP Software with competitive options? Quickly get answers and the information you need.
Evo-ERP Software can function in a multi-national environment when dealing with suppliers and customers around the world. It can also manage a multi-lingual employee base within the company.
Up to ten different currencies can be defined and exchange rates maintained to convert base currency to customer or vendor source currency for invoicing and payment. Various Sales Tax structures accommodate different country and local requirements for both sales and purchasing. Customs and duty fees are calculated based on both the product being purchased and the vendor from whom it is purchased.
Within the company, a translation table allows for the display of program screens in different languages for different users. The translation table can also be used to change descriptions of items on screens to match industry-specific terminology.
"Multi-National Settings" is part of the Evo-ERP Software line of products, developed by Evo-ERP.


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Juicy J is back on the scene today with a brand new stream and download of his track "Having Sex." As the song title states, there is plenty of excitement to go around in this feature.
Taylor Gang's finest show us that it is all about the skills in the bedroom that count. Along for the ride (no pun intended) are G.O.O.D. Music's 2 Chainz as well as Trina. Things are about to get dirty so feel free to listen through the link provided!
This song is off of DJ Spinatikl's Street Runnaz 72, which comes alongside exclusive productions from Trinidad James, A$AP Rocky, Rick Ross and Curren$y.
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Attorney: PRC only 'speculated' impact of NSA's on competitors
October 1, 2013
By Tonda F. Rush
CEO and General Counsel | NNA
WASHINGTON—The impact upon fair competition from discounted postage rates for Valassis Direct Mail Inc., was analyzed only through "armchair speculation," by the Postal Regulatory Commission, an attorney for the National Newspaper Association told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in September.
Steven Douse, partner with the Nashville law firm King & Ballow, represented NNA in its appeal of the PRC's decision last year to grant 22 percent to 34 percent postage discounts to Valassis so it could partner with the Postal Service to pull advertising inserts out of newspapers. The PRC approved the discounts in a Negotiated Service Agreement between USPS and Valassis. The Newspaper Association of America promptly appealed. NNA joined the appeal.
The PRC did not sufficiently understand its duty to examine the effects upon competitors when it approved the deal, according to Robert Long of Covington and Burling, attorney for NAA. Douse told the court that the PRC's grasp of the antitrust laws was like someone trying to drive in unfamiliar territory without a map or a GPS: they are guaranteed to get lost. That is what happened to the commission, which rarely considers antitrust matters, in its review of the NSA, Douse said.
The NSA was intended to produce a new weekend direct mail product for Valassis that it was to name "Spree." The product has not been rolled out into the 10 or so markets Valassis said it intended to target, but Long told the court that the impact of the competitive threat had harmed newspapers nonetheless.
Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph, sitting as part of a three-judge panel, asked the PRC's attorney, Jeffrey Clair, whether the commission should have analyzed both the effects of the deal upon competitors of USPS as well as the competitors of Valassis. Clair replied that the commission determined that the discounted postage was not below USPS costs and therefore was not predatory. He did not address whether the PRC had examined the effects upon the two different marketplaces: the distribution markets as well as the advertising markets.
An opinion from the court is expected either late 2013 or early 2014.