text:
ANA Marketing and Procurement Survey
April 1, 2005
This survey helps gauge the relationship between Marketing and Procurement both positive and negative, and to highlight best practices.
Two surveys were fielded simultaneously from March-April 2005. The surveys were designed by Procurement Best Practice Task Force of the Advertising Financial Management Committee to:
- Gauge the relationship between Marketing and Procurement
- Compare and contrast how Marketing and Procurement each respond
- Identify where they are best working together and note where improvements can be made
- Highlight best practices
Survey sample sizes
- Marketer Survey: 1,926
- Procurement Survey: 334
- Manager to Vice President
- 122 Marketing ( 6.3% response rate)
- 68 Procurement (20.3% response rate)
Key Findings
- Marketing and Procurement are not aligned about their current and future role
- Marketing appears resistant to Procurement's involvement in the marketing process
- Marketing and Procurement disagree on Procurement's effectiveness
- Over 70% of the Procurement respondents rated themselves as exceeding cost savings expectations/ but just 20% of the Marketing respondents said they had
- Both sides agree there is room for improvement in their relationship, and there are bridges to be built
- The current organizational structure (mostly separate procurement function) may be an impediment to a better relationship
Profile of Respondents
Size of Company
Type of Industry
In your organization to whom does Marketing Procurement report?
For most respondents, Marketing Procurement has a functional reporting relationship
Describe the role of Marketing Procurement at your company
Marketing Procurement tends to be a separate functional group
In what areas of marketing has Procurement become involved?
Dichotomies exist in perceived levels of Procurement's marketing engagement
In which marketing disciplines does Procurement play a role?
There is even a bigger divergence by Marketing discipline
How would you rate procurement's impact on the following disciplines? (high=3, medium=2, low= 1)
In which marketing disciplines do you have no plans for Procurement to become involved?
In which marketing disciplines do you have near term (active in 2005) or medium term (active 2006) plans to become involved?
- Procurement plans more future involvement than marketing plans for them
Overall, how has Procurement delivered?
The good news - Marketing perceives Procurement to be delivering some value
The Value that Procurement Brings to Marketing
|Marketing about Procurement
|Procurement about Marketing
Top Three Challenges to Using Procurement for Marketing Processes
Survey designed by the Procurement Best Practice Task Force of the Advertising Financial Management Committee and fielded to Marketing and Procurement professionals. March-April 2005.


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The July had a lot of different kinds of Travel Videos to offer. Again i was on Tour with my camera to capture some pieces of Berlin – but this roundup takes you on a journey around the globe: from California over South East Asia, India and North Africa to Europe.
1) A Day in California
Southern Califronia, USA
"…A Day in California is comprised of 10,000+ individual photographs, taken on beginner Canon equipment…"
"… It is the result of a year and a half of travel around Southern California to capture some of the wonderful and unique locations that this great state has to offer. …" (from Vimeo Channel)[divider_top]
2) 6 months walking in ASIA
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia
"… I like telling stories about people and places through images: the faces and the looks, now smiling, now anxious, express more than simple words. …"
"… I like travelling anywhere, I crossed Colombia, North America and much of Europe, but Asia is the continent that fascinates me most. Here I visited Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea. The love for Asia has recently led me to face a journey of 6 months to get new views of this continent; I traveled throughout Vietnam, Laos, India and Sri Lanka, where I tried to capture new ideas for my photos and my projects. …" (from Authors Website)[divider_top]
3) Indian Point Of View – Tamil Nadu
a POV journey
"… Entierely shot in South India where travelled for two weeks, only with my fastpack filled with my gear (and two tee shirts, haha). …" (from Vimeo Channel)[divider_top]
4) Inch'Allah : la route du Sud
"… From April 27th till May 10th, my father and I left Lyon (France) to reach Morocco. In the amazing country, we drove about 1800 miles in the desert, sometimes 12 hours a day on the motorbike. …"
"… A crazy adventure, some incredible people met, intense landscapes…During these 10 days, I took the time to shoot a lot of videos. Most of the time, it was quite hard due to the wind projecting some sand on the camera. …" (from Vimeo Channel)[divider_top]
5) WALES "once upon a time in the greenest lands"
"… From 2 to 5 of June me, my girlfriend, my older brother and our flatmate Arturas went to Wales. We visited Cardiff, Swansea, Tenby, Pembroke, Pentre Ifan, Corris Uchaf, Holyhead, Conwy and Elan Valley. …" (from Vimeo Channel)[divider_top]
That's it! What was your favorite travel video in July?
Share your recommendations with the readers by adding a comment!
Featured image taken from Video 4)

subset: commoncrawl


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Executive Coaching Courses
Plot 364, 39 Road, Gwarinpa, Abuja, F.C.T, Nigeria
08130011915, 08078849773
AFFIRM is an organisation dedicated to human capacity building and personal development with services in consulting, training and executive coaching
Plot 371A, Alhaji Usman Street, Off Adeniji Street, Ogba, Lagos
0803 329 1473
Mind+ Facilitation Company Nigeria provides executive coaching services on motivational speaking and practical training courses in Nigeria.
3B Isiola Oyekan Close, Off Adeleke Adedoyin Street, Victoria Island, Lagos State Nigeria
0701 815 9321, 01 773 6700, 01 762 1488
01 762 1411
Narita Learning Centre offers coaching programmes in executive coaching, life coaching with internationally certified coach trainers
SMC House, 14, Dele Adeyemi Street, Agungi, Lekki, Lagos
0803 525 6173, 0803 718 5264, 01 774 1452
Strategic Business School is an executive coaching and counseling session provider on administration, international proficiency certificate programme, SBS business portfolio, SBS strategy services and tailored training in Nigeria
House 16, 622 Road, Off Charly Boy Boulevard, Gwarimpa, Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
0802 901 2576, 0803 335 5137
Training and Development International Associates Ltd provides training programmes in executive coaching, strategic business development & program planning, capacity building programs, human capital management programs, program monitoring & evaluation.
, Ikeja, Lagos Nigeria
Weyinmi Jemide LLP is a certified master coach from the behavioral coaching institute of Australia and provides services in executive coaching, group facilitation, training and transformation.


text:
Jeff Gilfelt, the developer behind the Action Bar Style Generator and other Android utils, published the first Android Template Project for the upcoming Android Tools I mentioned yesterday.
Jeff has gathered many frequently requested templates to his project including ActionBarSherlock Activity and many others.
Head to the project page to read the full list and download the templates yourself:
This project will same more of Android devs' time than any other project before.


text:
MPN Gold Partner
We pride ourselves of our a longstanding Gold level in the Microsoft Partner Network.
Affordable Solution
Our solutions are created to fit your exact needs. Never overpay and get the right service you need today.
Unparalleled Expertise
Our team has decades of experience in the field. We can work with anything thrown our way.
Proactive Support
We work to prevent problems before they even happen. Run your business at full capacity!
Microsoft Gold Partner with over 500 Cloud Migrations
We can help your organization better understand what solutions there are to fit your circumstances.
Small Business
Work smart and work fast on the go. With the freedom of Office365, work wherever you go. We can help make your small business more efficient and profitable.
Midsize Business
Access all of your tools and files from anywhere. Use your business-class email through Outlook, collaborate on documents, and create and edit files from your phone, tablet, or desktop.
Enterprise Business
Office across your devices for powerful collaboration. Each user can install Office on up to five devices and work across all devices at the same time, allowing for maximum efficiency.
More Info
We'd like to talk with you. If you are interested in learning anything beyond what our website has to offer, using the contact form is a great way to get in touch with us at all hours of the day. If you're available during our business hours, give us a call and we can schedule a meeting that works for you.
Address: 14 Ridgedale Ave. Suite 201
Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927
Phone: 973-630-5020
Business Hours: 8a–6p M-F


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Community and mine leaders realized 10 years ago that the Golden Sunlight Mine's finite ore resource would eventually end, and with it, end contributions to the community and economy. By building partnerships and working for the long term good of the community, efforts began to develop new economic opportunities to help replace the wages and tax base provided by mining operations.
The groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of infrastructure work on phase one of the 200-acre business park, and celebrated the hard work of people involved during the development years of the project. The Business Park is located north of I-90 between the Cardwell and Whitehall exits, just below the Golden Sunlight Mine.
Barrick Golden Sunlight Mine and MSU Extension's partnership goes beyond economic and community development. MSU Extension has assisted the mine in achieving sustainable development goals as a mining operation. Barrick is one of the few mining organizations listed on both the national and international Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
Jefferson County Extension agents Tara Mastel and Tom Harrington are among a growing number of Extension agents in the state working on community development efforts.
"Having the nonprofit structure is helpful to accomplishing economic and community development projects throughout Jefferson County," said Mastel. "The Sunlight Business Park is our largest and longest term project."
Through an agreement with MSU Extension and Jefferson County, the agents serve as loaned staff to the JLDC, which is Jefferson county's lead economic development entity.
"Creating this shovel-ready space for businesses to start and grow is the cornerstone of our economic sustainability plan for the area. With this space for business development, businesses will have excellent access to key transportation routes, infrastructure and visibility from the interstate," said Harrington. "We are working to create a more diverse economy so that when the mine eventually closes, it will not have such a devastating impact on the economy of the area."
Sara Adlington (406) 994-4602 or email@example.com


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So this is the BLUEPRINT that I think the Pacers need to follow to retool this team without crossing over the dreaded LUXURY TAX.
Step 1: Trade David West to the Pistons for Josh Smith. (Throw in a future 2nd rounder to make it work if necessary)
West has been good for our team. Salary wise, this trade works. We'd only be on the hook for an extra $1.5 million of Joshes contract. Since West has 2 years left on his at $12 million. And Josh has 3 years left on his at $13.5 million. Not to mention, you never know what will happen in the final year of Joshes contract. Trade deadline and all, expiring's. Especially large ones are always coveted. But Smith has all the tools, this team needs to get quicker, faster, and more mobile. Get ourselves some easy transition baskets and run outs. Smith still has game. And while he takes the occasional ill-advised 3 pointer, I think our organizational structure and coaching will be good for him and his game. He's also closing in on "those years". So he will want to ride with a contender and win a title, without screwing it up.
There was a game back in FEB, where he put up 32 on Dallas. An assortment and array of moves that West at his age can't make often enough. Smith can also run the floor like PG can. That will be a big help to us because we hardly score any transition points. Roy is naturally slow, and West is declining. This is also a guy who signed here after an ACL surgery. So whatever explosiveness he had in his legs, was mooted by the surgery somewhat. While age has stolen the rest.
Josh back at PF will be a plus too. His natural position. But we get quicker, younger, faster, and more explosive. Not to mention, Josh is an above-average shot blocker. So we gain defense from that position.
Step 2: Trade Hibbert and CJ to Portland for Robin Lopez, Mo Williams, and J. Freeland.
Works financially. Roy would help Portland elevate their status in the West as a serious contender. He adds a defensive stopper, and some occasional scoring with the hook shot array. Portland now has someone who can blunt the many long-range shots they take on offense. Plus him and LA are friends. And he will have a mobile PF, and a TRUE point guard playing with him. That'll make his life easier, and could be the resurgence of his career. If so, we'll only see him and them twice a season so no biggie if he tears it up in Portland.
Plus his contract is really only two more years. So it doesn't tie Portland up in HUGE, long term money and years. For us, Lopez adds a more mobile big to our team. He can run, knows PnR, he's a decent shot blocker, and a great rebounder. In the East, where there are no true centers....he'll do just fine for us. Freeland is filler, and Mo Williams and CJ are a wash really. Both are on similar deals. We just take Mo because maybe we prefer him over CJ. A Josh Smith/Robin Lopez front line gives us ALOT more speed and quickness than we were working with before.
STEP 3: Trade George Hill for Marcus Thornton
The money bit of it works. Hill's only got two more years on his deal. Marcus has one. But their money is similar. Almost an exact match. Brooklyn just has Hill for 1 extra year on their roster. And again, in an expiring year...they can always deal him at the trade deadline for nothing or a pick or something.
Thornton gives us shooting from the SG spot. Which is what we need. He's streaky, and is capable of going off for 30+ in any game if he's hot. We saw that up close and personal last season. This allows us to re-sign Lance and move him to the 1, where he belongs. His size at PG would hurt opposing teams. His passing ability (when under control and focused, and more seasoned)...fits the position. And he pushes the ball early and often. No more WALKING IT UP EVERY DAMN TIME.
Step 4: Cut Scola or move him. Move Ian as well. And cut Sloan. Sign Ivan Johnson to the vet Min.
Saves us money if we can clear all these guys without taking back anything. Plus, we still have our TPE's to do something with. Ivan Johnson for the vet MIN, would be a steal at backup center. The guy does all the dirty work, isn't afraid to lay wood to guys driving to the basket, and is pretty athletic in running the floor and grabbing rebounds. Or we could resign LaVoy for cheap. A larger offensive threat.
Our NEW ROSTER. Would look like this........
Paul George
Robin Lopez
Marcus Thornton
Lance Stephenson
Chris Copeland
Solomon Hill
LaVoy Allen/Ivan Johnson
Mo Williams
We could use our TPE to try and fill the back up 2 guard role. Or use our MLE to add someone like CJ Miles for cheap.
Financially.....in this roster scenario? This is how we look next Summer.........
Mo Williams: EXPIRING
Robin Lopez: EXPIRING
J. Freeland: EXPIRING
Marcus Thornton: EXPIRING
Chris Copeland: EXPIRING
Scola (if kept): EXPIRING
Mahinmi (if kept): ENTERING FINAL YEAR
SLOAN (if kept): EXPIRING
Now I am not sure how much in total would fall off our cap next Summer IN THIS SCENARIO? But we'd definitely be in good position financially to make some deals. And replace SOME of these guys with rookies and young players on cheap contracts.


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Running a 5K is one of the great human challenges, alongside raising a child and peeling a ripe mango without basically ruining it. Go the distance with this Groupon.
Choose from Three Options
- $20 for a 5K race entry for one (a $40 value)
- $39 for a 5K race entry for two (a $80 value)
- $75 for a 5K race entry for four (a $140 value)
Registration includes a complementary Color Me Loco T-shirt. Kids seven and under receive free admittance with a registered adult. The race begins at 9 a.m., with subsequent waves commencing at 9:20 a.m. and 9:40 a.m, on Saturday, September 14.
Color Me Loco
Instead of crowning a winner based on time, the judges of the Color Me Loco 5K prefer a more subjective measurement: colorfulness. Along the route, volunteers at eight color zones throw colored cornstarch and water at racers passing by. Donning white attire, 5K participants quickly transform into vibrant works of art as they hustle through colorful checkpoints, such as the Loco Color Car Wash. Color Me Loco encourages entrants to tackle the multi-hued course at their own pace, whether by running, walking, or letting a breeze carry them all three miles.


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With 1.7 million freelancers, we'll match you with the perfect talent.
Expert in whimsical illustration.
Over 20 years in illustration and cartooning. All areas of publishing including picture books, chapter books, educational workbooks and magazines.
Clients have included Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Prentice-Hall, Macmillan Publishing, Highlights for Children, Cricket and Pockets Magazine.
For four years I was the house artist for Cobblestone, the children's history magazine, providing the interior art and it's monthly comic strip, 'Cobblestone Corners.'
My cartoons have appeared in Reader's Digest,...
Traditional Illustration


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Assault on 70-year-old
Assault on 70-year-old
Sunday, 2 February 2014 - 5:46pm
Hutt Valley Police are investigating a serious assault that was reported in the early hours of Sunday morning. Detective Sergeant Christiaan Barnard said, "Three unknown males have gone to an address in Bush Street, Naenae and smashed a number of windows.
"When the 70-year-old victim came out to confront the offenders, they set upon him, striking him about the body and head. He suffered a fractured collar bone and required stitches to his head. They then left in a vehicle along Bush Street towards Treadwell Street."
Police are seeking sightings of this vehicle which has been described as a dark coloured four wheel drive, possibly a Nissan Terrano or Pathfinder. The offenders have been described as Pacific Island males wearing dark clothing.
If anyone has any information about this incident, they should contact the Hutt Valley Police on 04 560 2600.
Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.


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RECIPES: Recipe Details
"ELVIS" BURGER with SPICY PEANUT SAUCE, BACON, AND SMOKEY SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE
Spicy Peanut Sauce:
1 cup Natural unsalted peanut butter, chunky
3/4 cup Hot water (adding more water as needed to create a thick sauce)
2 T Soy sauce
1 1/2 T Chili garlic sauce
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
12 slices thick bacon
2 lbs ground chuck
8 oz Johnsonville Pork Chorizo, casing removed
3 T Lea & Perrins Worcestershire
2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
Colavita Extra Virgin Olive oil, for brushing the grill rack and buns
6 slices of Smokey Sharp Cheddar cheese, thick slices
6 Potatoes buns, split
1 cup Mayonnaise, good quality
4 Romo Tomatoes, sliced
Preheat your gas grill to high. Place a large cast iron skillet on the rack.
To make the Spicy Peanut Sauce, whisk in a small bowl the peanut butter, hot water, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, salt. Add more hot water as needed to create a thick sauce. Set aside at room temperature.
To cook the bacon, Place the bacon in the preheated skillet. Cook the bacon until crisp about 5 to 7 minutes a side. Remove the bacon and drain on a paper towels. Cover and set the bacon to the side. Remove the skillet from the grill.
To prepare the patties, gently combine the chuck, chorizo, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Gently mix together using your hands. Divide into 6 equal parts and form into patties.
Brush the grill rack with olive oil. Place the patties on the grill and cover and cook for 5 minutes. Turn the patties, and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Place the cheese slices on the last 3 minutes of grilling. Brush the buns with olive oil and place the buns, cut side down, on the outer edges of the rack to toast lightly during the last 2 minutes of grilling.
To assemble the burger, slather the top bun with the Spicy Peanut Sauce. Slather the bottom bun with mayonnaise. Place a patty on the bottom bun. Place 2 slices of bacon on top of each patty. Next add 3 slices tomatoes. Add the bun top with wooden skewers and serve with your favorite Elvis Presley music.
Makes 6 burgers.
Served with your favorite Elvis Presley music. Long live the King of Rock-n- Roll. I dedicate this burger to all the true Elvis fans. Enjoy.
For the chili garlic sauce, use Huy Fong Foods brand.


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A petition is calling for income tax to be increased to offset the impact of government funding cuts.
Wanstead Quaker group, based in Bush Road, is calling for those paying £40,000 or more to pay an extra 1p in every pound after Redbridge Council cut the budget for social services by £1.9million this year, with total required savings of £21million over the next two years.
The online petition, part of the Fair Penny Campaign, has already received 1,085 signatures.
It will be presented to Redbridge Council if the total reaches 2,000, the amount needed to force a full council debate on the proposal.
The petition states: "Austerity measures are affecting the poor disproportionately, increasing inequality.
"We see this as an injustice: everyone has a right to a fair share and everyone ought to contribute fairly.
"It's the government's job to make sure this happens.
"Many people are willing to pay an extra penny in tax to help prevent cuts to benefits and services."
Members of Wanstead Quaker group admitted the proposal would not be popular with many people, but said they are determined to publicise the issue.
Kate Green, 65, of Blake Hall Crescent, Wanstead, said: "All we want to do is get justice for the poor.
"We want to show all the political parties that there are people who care and people who want to give more so the disadvantaged don't struggle as they are.
"It is true that many people will not be willing to pay more tax and we understand that. But because of our faith we have been led to act, and our petition has received loads of support so far."
Melvyn Freake, 66, of Hamilton Avenue, Barkingside, said: "People earning over £40,000 a year can afford to give this extra money.
"The idea of paying more tax may seem a bad idea, but I want people to realise that paying extra can contribute to the greater welfare of society.
"Rather than cutting, the government could actually choose to spend money on people, we want to show that people are willing to spend a bit extra to help out."
Deputy Leader of Redbridge Council, Ian Bond, said the proposed tax rise could be counter-productive.
He said: "I recognise the concerns that this campaign is raising. Liberal Democrats are working hard both in government and on the council to manage with less money and mitigate the impact on the poorest.
"For example, the Redbridge Council Tax Support Scheme offers more support than those of neighbouring boroughs. However Lib Dems nationally are proud of having reduced income tax for lower earners; I do not think that an across-the-board tax increase for everyone would be the fairest way of raising extra money."


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Computer in KotaComputers directory on India is an online directory providing listing of all computer manufacturers of India and companies providing various computer related services like software development, website designing, ERP solutions, multimedia, CRM solutions and other important services. India computers directory also provides website listing of major computer manufacturers and software development companies of India besides giving info on companies offering customised software solutions suiting your requirements.
Latest Website Listings
- Kappa Infotech Private Limited Providing internet leased lines, vpn solutions and internet on cable.
- Lata Corportion Our hitech & modern offshore development center in India provides a perfect platform for outsourced product development for clients worldwide. Our center is equipped with high bandwidth dedicated internet connection, latest hardware, telecommunication lines, infrastructure and facilities.
- Jain Bandhu Enterprises Offers consultancy services regarding computerisation of firm or office, setting up LAN, server, proxy server, etc.
- WebSoft Solutions WebSoft Solutions is a consulting agency which offering reliable software & website development, web hosting, e-business, software for corporate, internet marketing and applications database development with focused approach and dedication towards it's clients. We have tested dimension several times in terms of technology, price and commitment towards work.
- MyLogics Softwares MyLogics Softwares is an IT Solutions and Services company with experience in developing enterprise applications for a wide spectrum of domains including supply chain, manufacturing, asset visibility, education and accounting. These applications have been developed on a variety of platforms including ASP Classic, PHP, J2EE and .Net.
- Gradient Softech Gradient Softech is a Computer and Internet based Electronic Company with a team of highly qualified professionals and has been working since last Eight years. We are an organization engaged in the business of Web, Multimedia & Printing Solutions using various Open Source as well as Microsoft Technologies.
- 4eIT.com Offering internet domain name registration, linux web hosting, free web hosting and free web hosting.
- Kay Kay Softech Pvt. Ltd. Engaged in offering complete networking & computer solutions.
- Mind wave softwares minewave offers a variety of high quality IT consulting services for solving project management, business analysis, system analysis, strategic planning, and other IT issues. Our skilled professional consultants deliver objective recommendations and tailored solutions to meet your business needs.
- G. Holographics Dealing in various types of security holograms, custom holograms and stock holograms.
More Categories
Computer - ALL INDIA
@ All India (5664)
© SurfIndia . All Rights Reserved.


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Marilyn Monroe Costume Jewelry Kit
Out of StockProduct # CA60425
Product Includes
- Rhinestone Chandelier Necklace
- Rhinestone Earrings
Purchase Product
Sorry, this item is Out of Stock
Product Description
Get everything you need to be drop dead gorgeous with this Marilyn Monroe costume jewelry kit. The necklace has an easy to use clasp that can be attached anywhere along the chain in back to form the perfect fit. A solid row of three sparkling rhinestones across the top of the necklace accents the rows of dangling rhinestones in front that vary in length to form a beautiful wedge shape. Matching, clip on earrings each feature a solid square consisting of 9 rhinestones from which three rows of rhinestones dangle. This licensed Marilyn Monroe costume jewelry kit will look stunning with any Marilyn costume this Halloween.
Recommended Accessories


text:
AREA 13.1 Half-Marathon
Castle Rock, CO
Sat 09/14/2013
Competition Run/Race, Half-Marathon
2500 Participants
Chip Timing, Online Entry Available
|Sat 09/14/2013
|Competition Run/Race (Half-Marathon)
AREA 13.1 is a nationwide Half-Marathon Series originating in Roswell, Georgia. This is a night race; seriously when have you ever heard of aliens invading during the day? All runners will receive an ?out of this world? extraterrestrial-friendly shirt and swag bag equipped with glow in the dark tools needed to ward off those pesky aliens. Finishers will receive their very own die cast ?I Escaped the Invasion? medal. Sponsor giveaways and much more. The Invaders are coming. Will you escape? The AREA 13.1 Half-Marathon race was created to honor the life of Matthew E Russell, who passed away at the age of 22. Matthew had a passion to bring education and hope to the Zulu people of South Africa. His foundation supports the building of libraries and furthering higher education for children around the world.
- Name:Michael Buckelew
- Email:firstname.lastname@example.com
- Phone:404-542-7123
- Address:Castle Rock, CO
Castle Rock, Colorado 80104


text:
Journal of Applied Mathematics
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 560785, 10 pages
Nonlinear Adaptive Equivalent Control Based on Interconnection Subsystems for Air-Breathing Hypersonic Vehicles
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Received 14 May 2013; Accepted 22 July 2013
Academic Editor: Tao Zou
Copyright © 2013 Chaofang Hu and Yanwen Liu. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
For the nonminimum phase behavior of the air-breathing hypersonic vehicle model caused by elevator-to-lift coupling, a nonlinear adaptive equivalent control method based on interconnection subsystems is proposed. In the altitude loop, the backstepping strategy is applied, where the virtual control inputs about flight-path angle and attack angle are designed step by step. In order to avoid the inaccurately direct cancelation of elevator-to-lift coupling when aerodynamic parameters are uncertain, the real control inputs, that is, elevator deflection and canard deflection, are linearly converted into the equivalent control inputs which are designed independently. The reformulation of the altitude-flight-path angle dynamics and the attack angle-pitch rate dynamics is constructed into interconnection subsystems with input-to-state stability via small-gain theorem. For the velocity loop, the dynamic inversion controller is designed. The adaptive approach is used to identify the uncertain aerodynamic parameters. Simulation of the flexible hypersonic vehicle demonstrates effectiveness of the proposed method.
1. Introduction
Hypersonic vehicles have a promising prospect in both military and commercial applications as its flight speed can be more than 5 times of the speed of sound. However, since the model of hypersonic vehicle is nonlinear, multivariable, uncertain, and coupling [1], it is unstable and extremely sensitive to changes in flight condition and parameters. This brings a great challenge to controller design [2]. At present, most researches focus on dealing with nonlinearity and uncertainty of hypersonic vehicles. For example, linear control methods are attempted according to linearized hypersonic vehicle models, such as pole placement techniques [3], LQR method [4], linear output feedback control [5], and LPV control [6]. In addition, nonlinear control strategies are widely used as well, such as feedback linearization approach [7], sliding control [8, 9], and backstepping technique [10]. For uncertainty of hypersonic vehicles, besides adaptive approaches [11], robust strategies are common tools, for example, -synthesis, control [12], stochastic robustness control [13], and nonlinear disturbance observer-based robust control [14]. Although these methods are proven to be effective, they do not usually consider the coupling problems existing in hypersonic vehicles. These problems lead to more difficulties in the flight controller design. In an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle, it is known that there are structural dynamics, flexible effect, elevator-to-lift coupling, and the coupling between thrust and pitch moment, where elevator-to-lift coupling is not neglectable, and it will generate unstable zero dynamics exponentially, that is, the nonminimum phase behavior in pitch rate model, if the controller is designed directly by the inversion.
With regard to the elevator-to-lift coupling problem, some strategies have been tried. The basic method usually ignores this coupling, and then the nonminimum phase can be removed from the model during the controller design [2], where this coupling is only regarded as unmodeled dynamics. However, this manner cannot ensure the stability of the control system. The other common approach is to offset the influence of the coupling. For example, a canard is adopted to cancel the influence of elevator on lift, and an adaptive robust controller based on nonlinear sequential loop-closure approach is developed [15, 16]. Nevertheless, the changes of the uncertain parameters are not considered. This may result in the inaccurate cancellation, which means elevator and lift are not decoupled completely. Simultaneously, this approach has an adverse influence on the pitch rate dynamics since its inputs also consist of elevator and canard. In addition, for thermal protection problem resulted from the canard, only the elevator is taken as aerodynamic control surface in reference [17]. The system model is transformed into the interconnection of systems in feedback and feedforward forms to eliminate the nonminimum phase. But the robustness with regard to uncertainty of the hypersonic vehicle model is not addressed totally.
From the analysis, we know that adding canard control surface is an effective and simple way to suppress the nonminimum phase behavior, even though the strict cancellation of the elevator-to-lift coupling cannot be realized actually. In this paper, the flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle model is considered. For the tracking requirement of altitude and velocity, a nonlinear adaptive equivalent control method based on interconnection subsystems is proposed by incorporating canard. Firstly, in the altitude loop, the virtual control inputs about flight-path angle and attack angle are designed step by step according to the backstepping strategy. Secondly, the terms about the real control inputs, that is, the elevator and canard deflection in the flight-path angle dynamics and the pitch rate dynamics, are linearly converted into the equivalent control inputs instead of direct cancelation of the elevator-to-lift coupling. By designing the new inputs independently, the altitude control loop is reformulated. And the adaptive technique is used to identify the uncertain aerodynamic parameters. Then the interconnection subsystems including the altitude-flight-path angle dynamics and the attack angle-pitch rate dynamics are constructed. Via the small-gain method, the system is proven to be input-to-state stable. In the velocity loop, the adaptive dynamic inversion controller is designed. Simulation results show the power of our approach.
In Section 2, the air-breathing hypersonic vehicle model is presented. The nonlinear adaptive equivalent control based on interconnection subsystems is introduced in Section 3. Section 4 presents the simulation. The conclusion is drawn in Section 5.
2. Air-Breathing Hypersonic Vehicle Model
In this study, the flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle model [18] is considered. This model is composed of five rigid-body states, that is, velocity , altitude , flight-path angle , attack angel , pitch rate , and six flexible states, that is, , , , , , and . The equations of motion are written as where , , represent mass of the aircraft, moment of inertia, gravitational acceleration; damping ratio and natural frequency of the flexible motion are denoted by and , respectively; , , , and and are thrust, drag, lift, generalized forces and moment The aerodynamic parameters in the above formulation are described as follows: where the control inputs are fuel-to-air ratio , elevator deflection , and canard deflection ; , , , , denote dynamic pressure, reference area, thrust moment arm, mean aerodynamic chord, and Mach number; and are the forebody turn angle and the aftbody vertex angle which are linear mapping of elastic states .
In (3), the elevator-to-lift coupling orients from that includes the term of , which leads to the nonminimum phase behavior. If is designed by the dynamic inversion directly, the pitch rate dynamics will become a hyperbolic saddle equilibrium. This unstable zero dynamic brings great difficulties to the controller design.
3. Nonlinear Adaptive Equivalent Controllers Design
In order to track the altitude and velocity command signals and , two controllers will be designed independently for the altitude loop and the velocity loop. During the controller design, the flexible motion is viewed as external perturbation, and its influence on aerodynamic model (3) is neglected.
3.1. Altitude Controller
In the altitude loop, the controller is designed according to the backstepping approach. Then the virtual control inputs about flight-path angle and attack angle are determined, respectively.
For the altitude dynamics, let ; then its error dynamics is written in the following: So the flight-path angle command is designed into the following equation: where is the design parameter for .
Let ; the error dynamic of flight-path angle is presented as follows: Here, the thrust is described as the function about the attack angle. Define , where and . As the variation range of the attack angle is small, (6) will be expanded around the final expectation .
To handle the nonminimum phase problem, the MIMO equivalent method is applied in this paper, which is different from the previous research results [17]. The terms about the elevator and canard deflection are linearly equivalent to the control input vector . The error model of the flight-path angle (6) can be rewritten as where and are the terms containing the uncertain aerodynamic parameters. They can be expressed as the following equations: , are vectors of the uncertain parameters and , are regressors Therefore the dynamics (7) is reformulated as Then the virtual command of the attack angle is chosen as .
Let ; the error dynamic of the attack angle is formulated as A new variable is defined as , where is a design parameter for . Then (12) is rewritten as Using the equivalent control method, the time derivative of can be formulated with the new input . It includes the pitch rate dynamics where and are similar terms containing the uncertain parameters. They can also be presented by the vectors of the uncertain parameters and the regressors where So (14) can be reformulated as Due to the uncertainty of the aerodynamic parameters, , will change with flight of hypersonic vehicles. Therefore it is necessary to estimate their values by the adaptive technique. Let , be the estimate vector and the estimate error vector of , where , .
Assumption 1. The aerodynamic parameters , are bounded; they lie in a compact convex set.
In order to guarantee tracking performance of hypersonic vehicles, the equivalent control inputs and are designed, respectively, by replacing the uncertain parameter vector with its estimate vector and estimate error vector where , are the design parameters for and .
Let . There is according to (7) and (14). is a coefficient matrix and is equal to . The real inputs of the altitude loop can be obtained as follows:
Combining (18), the state error dynamics about the altitude loop is transformed into the following equations: where , .
For ensuring the stability of the altitude loop, the new formulation (20) is divided into the altitude-flight-path angle subsystem and the attack angle-pitch rate subsystem. As illustrated in Figure 1, these two subsystems constitute a structure of interconnection. It is seen that and act as the input and output of the altitude-flight-path angle subsystem and , are the input and output of the attack angle-pitch rate subsystem, respectively.
For the above interconnection subsystems, input-to-state stability will be analyzed via small gain theorem. Firstly, the definition of the asymptotic norm is given [19] Then, define , and choose the Lyapunov function candidate of the altitude-flight-path angle subsystem as Its time derivative is The adaptive laws of , are designed as where and are the adaptive parameters.
By (24), (23) becomes As a consequence, it satisfies which is negative definite when . Then is a input-to-state stable Lyapunov function. According to the lemma in [19], we know that . As , the following formulation is obtained: For the attack angle-pitch rate subsystem, is defined, and the following Lyapunov function candidate is chosen: Its time derivative is where the adaptive laws of , are determined as Substituting (29) in (28), we can acquire When , . Similarly, can be obtained, and is input-to-state stable as well. Because , there is The interconnection formulation (20) is input-to-state stable according to small-gain theorem if we choose proper design parameters to make the following equation holds
Therefore the tracking errors and estimate errors of the altitude loop can converge to a small neighborhood of origin.
3.2. Velocity Controller
Since velocity is controlled by directly, the adaptive dynamic inversion method is used. Let ; the error dynamics of velocity is written as For existence of uncertain parameters, the following vectors and repressors are defined Consequently, Then the control input is designed as where is a design parameter.
Determine the Lyapunov function candidate as Its time derivative is The adaptive laws of , are obtained in the following: Thus (38) becomes ; that is, when , the tracking errors and estimate errors of the velocity subsystem can converge to zero finally.
Therefore the accurate tracking performance and the stability of altitude and velocity can be guarranteed by the proposed method.
4. Numerical Simulation
The feasibility of the proposed method is verified based on a flexible model (1)–(3). The initial trim conditions are ft, ft/s, rad, rad, rad/s, ftsulg, ftsulg, and ftsulg. Two cases are studied here.
Case one is a climbing maneuver with longitudinal acceleration, and the expected equilibrium is rad. The increments of altitude and velocity are 2000 ft, and 100 ft/s respectively. Case two is a descending maneuver with velocity reducing gradually, and its corresponding equilibrium is rad. The decreasing of altitude is 1000 ft and that of velocity is 100 ft/s.
For these two cases, The corresponding reference commands are generated by filtering step reference commands with a second-order profiler with rad/s and .
The simulation results of case one are shown in Figure 2.
The simulation results of case two are shown in Figure 3.
From Figures 2(a), 2(b), 3(a), and 3(b), it is seen that the controller can provide stable and accurate tracking of the reference trajectories for the two cases, and the tracking errors of altitude and velocity remain remarkably small. Figures 2(c), 2(d), 3(c), and 3(d) show that both the signals of the flight-path angle and the attack angle can also follow the change of virtual control commands closely.
For the flexible dynamics, its effect on aerodynamic model is neglected, and its motion is taken as external perturbation during the control design. That means that the forebody turn angle and the aftbody vertex angle are equal to zero in model (3) when the controller is designed. Simultaneously, the second-order equation about flexible states and is not considered. From Figures 2(e) and 3(e), we can know that the flexible states can converge to stable states ultimately although the flexible dynamics is not taken into account directly. This denotes that our controller has the strong robustness, and it is suitable to control the flexible hypersonic vehicle.
Moreover, the variation ranges of the control inputs that is, fuel-to-air ratio, elevator deflection, and canard deflection are bounded according to Figures 2(f), 2(g), 2(h), 3(f), 3(g), and 3(h).
In summary, the nonminimum phase behavior is suppressed successfully, and the excellent closed-loop behavior of air-breathing hypersonic vehicle can be obtained by the proposed controller for the cases of maneuver of altitude and velocity.
5. Conclusion
For the flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle with canard control surface, the controller is designed based on the nonlinear adaptive equivalent control strategy under interconnected structure. The equivalent control inputs are introduced and designed to replace the terms about elevator and canard in the flight-path angle dynamics and the pitch-rate dynamics for eliminating the nonminimum phase. The uncertain aerodynamic parameters are identified online by the adaptive method. And input-to-state stability of the interconnection subsystems is guaranteed by small-gain theorem. Similarly, the adaptive dynamic inversion approach is adopted in the velocity loop. With our approach, the stable and accurate tracking of the hypersonic vehicle model with nonminimum phase can be realized.
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61074064 and Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin 12JCZDJC30300. The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and constructive suggestions with regard to this paper.
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text: Photo by facebook [ Mrozek Playing At R Bar Tonight By JMrozek May 6, 2011 You may be asking yourself "What's R Bar?" It used to be Envy (Pearl St. Albany), but after St. Patty's Day they gutted the whole place out and jazzed it up... Read More Category: Local Stuff Tags: envy, live music, mrozek, r bar, yeahguy Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


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By: Devvy
February 13, 2011
It seems all we hear is more begging for Congress to create jobs. There is no authority for Congress to create jobs other than those critically essential to support the military, the courts, congressional overhead and only those areas specifically enumerated under Art. 1, Sec. 8 in a supporting role. As we can all see over the decades, pork spending creates nothing but more debt. Stealing from all of us, not to create jobs, but give the illusion the voter sanctioned criminal syndicate out in Washington, DC, is "doing something."
The Outlaw Congress, one after another for decades, have done nothing but kill MILLIONS of jobs through destructive, unconstitutional trade treaties and agencies handing down more and more draconian regulations choking private industry to death. That means your incumbent and mine if they were reelected last November.
The solutions to many of our economic problems have been ignored for years by crooks in the Outlaw Congress, and yes, I mean "conservatives" like Speaker John Boehner, Eric Cantor and others. With a split body, the Republicans can only do so much as far as legislation, but since long time incumbents have ignored the real solutions for decades, it has to be the states of the Union fighting back.
The Rest…HERE


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WOLLASTON Tennis Club will be opening its doors and offering free tennis this Saturday (July 12) as part of Great British Tennis Weekend.
The club, in Prestwood Drive, near Stourton, is hosting an open event for aspiring Andy Murrays and Petra Kvitovas.
Budding tennis stars of all ages and abilities, including those completely new to tennis, are invited to try their hand at the sport - free of charge.
Rackets and tennis balls will be provided.
People can also compare themselves to the professionals by taking part in the club's fastest serve competition.
There will also be a barbecue, strawberries and cream, ice-cream and other refreshments at the event which starts at 2pm.


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Is your memory playing tricks on you? Check your medicine cabinet!
- UdeMNouvelles
Common medication to treat insomnia, anxiety, itching or allergies can have a negative impact on memory or concentration in the elderly, according to Dr. Cara Tannenbaum, Research Chair at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM, Montreal Geriatric University Institute) and Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of Montreal (UdeM). Up to ninety percent of people over the age of 65 take at least one prescription medication. Eighteen percent of people in this age group complain of memory problems and are found to have mild cognitive deficits. Research suggests there may be a link between the two.
Dr. Tannenbaum recently led a team of international researchers to investigate which medications are most likely to affect amnestic (memory) or non-amnestic (attention, concentration, performance) brain functions. After analyzing the results from 162 experiments on medications with potential to bind to cholinergic, histamine, GABAergic or opioid receptors in the brain, Dr. Tannenbaum concluded that the episodic use of several medications can cause amnestic or non-amnestic deficits. This potential cause is often overlooked in persons who are otherwise in good health.
The 68 trials on benzodiazepines (which are often used to treat anxiety and insomnia) that were analyzed showed that these drugs consistently lead to impairments in memory and concentration, with a clear dose-response relationship. The 12 tests on antihistamines and the 15 tests on tricyclic antidepressants showed deficits in attention and information processing. Dr. Tannenbaum's findings support the recommendation issued in the Revised Beers Criteria published last spring 2012 by the American Geriatrics Society that all sleeping pills, 1st generation antihistamines and tricyclic antidepressants should be avoided at all costs in seniors.
Dr. Tannenbaum believes in the importance of communicating this knowledge to patients: "Seniors can play an important role in reducing the risks associated with these medications. Patients need this information so that they are more comfortable talking to their doctors and pharmacists about safer pharmacological or non-pharmacological treatment options," she explained. She also points out that each case must be addressed on an individual basis: "Despite the known risks, it may be better for some patients to continue their medication instead of having to live with intolerable symptoms. Each individual has a right to make an informed choice based on preference and a thorough understanding of the effects the medications may have on their memory and function."
Research summary
MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched for randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of adults without underlying central nervous system disorders who underwent detailed neuropsychological testing prior to and after oral administration of drugs affecting cholinergic, histaminergic, GABAergic or opioid receptor pathways. Seventy-eight studies were identified, reporting 162 trials testing medication from the four targeted drug classes. Two investigators independently appraised study quality and extracted relevant data on the occurrence of amnestic, non-amnestic or combined cognitive deficits induced by each drug class. Only trials using validated neuropsychological tests were included. Quality of the evidence for each drug class was assessed based on consistency of results across trials and the presence of a dose-response gradient. This research was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Sydney, the University of Calgary and the University of Iowa College of Public Health.
About the author
Cara Tannenbaum, MD, MSc, is a geriatrician and researcher in the health promotion, health care services and intervention unit at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM). She is also the inaugural Michel-Saucier Endowed Chair in Geriatric Pharmacology, Health and Aging from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Université de Montréal. She leads a program of research in epidemiologic and clinical geriatric health. Her clinical practice aims to improve medical care for older people.
Overview of the IUGM
The IUGM consists of 452 short-and long-terms beds and an ambulatory care centre that includes one of the rare chronic pain management clinics for the elderly in the world. It is a leader in clinical practice, specialized care, health promotion and knowledge development in the field of aging and senior health in Quebec. The IUGM consists of 1300 employees, physicians, researchers and volunteers, all specialized in senior care and services. Our Research Centre is recognized as the largest in the French-speaking community. Each year, the IUGM welcomes hundreds of students, trainees and researchers studying in the field of aging and seniors' health issues.
For Media, a complete version of the study is available on request.
Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal
Geneviève Desrosiers or Frédérique Laurier
Communications and Public Affairs
514 340-2800, ext. 3298 or 3554


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An east to west band of light snow accompanied an invasion of colder air into Minnesota overnight. Snowfall from Duluth to Alexandria southward tallied up to an inch in isolated locations. Most places accumulated a half inch or less, including the measurement at the Twin Cities International Airport.
The narrow band of light snow and remaining cloud cover will continue to push through the southeast corner of Minnesota this morning. Afternoon temperatures will hold close to seasonal normals. Colder air is poised to invade the Upper Midwest on the weekend and extend into Tuesday. Indeed, with the low sun angle and shortendaylight hours you'll experience the chill of a Minnesota winter.
Meteorologists are still pondering the model data to determine the northward extent of a snow system coming out of the Colorado region on Friday. Southeast Minnesota, from Albert Lea to Rochester and Hastings looks to be the most likely area for the potential for accumulating snowfall late Friday night through Saturday.
Current thinking from the NOAA Prediction Center on the favored region to receive four inches or more of snow on Saturday.
Forecasting snow amounts is problematic due to the lack of a definitive center of low pressure. Here is the graphic of the track of the lowest pressure for the next couple of days. Note the weakness of the surface low as the system moves through Iowa.
Let's see how this plays out in the next forty-eight hours. There is still plenty of time to refine the forecast before the first flakes fly.


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Couple Alert: Amanda Bynes and Doug Reinhardt
The Hills might add an actual actress to their repertoire if things go well for Brody Jenner's baseball-playing best friend Doug Reinhardt.
It seems the 23-year-old stud, who once courted Lauren Conrad, Stephanie Pratt and Holly Montag, has taken an interest in Hairspray star Amanda Bynes.
As Celebuzz previously reported, the pair were spotted canoodling last week at West Hollywood lounge Apple.
Now, sources say the couple showed to the scene of the crime once more, "hand in hand, sitting closely together at the owner Alison Melnick's table."
Hand in hand, indeed! The eyewitness also reveals that Reinhardt and the 22-year-old thesp were "very cute and flirty, whispering in each other's ears the whole night."
Bynes has been linked to the likes of once-costar Channing Tatum and even millionaire Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, 13 years her senior.
Perhaps love was everywhere. Paris Hilton also turned up at Apple with some gals from her MTV show My New BFF. She partied peacefully alongside ex-beau Josh Henderson.
Also spotted: Dancing with the Stars' Cheryl Burke, swigging Grey Goose, and singer Jesse McCartney.


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Donna Freitas is an assistant professor of religion at Boston University, earned a solemn doctorate in religious studies from the Catholic University of America and wrote a dark tome, Killing the Imposter God. Then she started researching Sex and the Soul, a serious study of college students attitudes toward sex and religion. But mornings, shed wake up early and the words would pour out -- light, burbling, joyful words about a 15-year-old named Antonia Lucia Labella, who works in the family pasta market, yearns for her first kiss and makes a crazy plan to become the worlds first living saint. Released this August as a Farrar, Straus & Giroux young-adult novel, Possibilities of Sainthood even has its own trailer on youtube.com.
Sounds like the book practically wrote itself.
I teach about the medieval women mystics, and now I joke that I hear voices
Any idea why this story seized you?
My mother had died suddenly, and I was spending a lot of time thinking about what she had left me. Like cooking -- I was conscripted into the kitchen as a kid. And she and my grandmother prayed to the saints all the time; we had statues all over the place.
Antonia thinks shes the only girl in high school whos never been kissed. What was your first kiss like?
Er ... I was a late bloomer like my protagonist. But I ended up having a pretty wonderful kiss.
Well ...?
Im not kissing and telling. When I wrote the kissing parts in the book, I was beet red and had one hand over my eyes. I couldnt believe I was writing a kissing scene. But I finally realized she was going to have her first kiss, and I was going to have to write it.
So how autobiographical is the novel?
I, too, used to see the Communion line as a parade of potential boyfriends. But being a saint, that never crossed my mind.
Who was your favorite saint?
The Italian favorite, St. Anthony, finder of lost things. We talked to him all the time in my house. Put on a pot of tea, call on St. Anthony, because Grandmas lost her purse and weve got to go.
Antonia comes up with a few suggestions, like a patron saint of secrets. Are you sure there isnt one already?
I checked. There is, however, a patron saint of spelunking, and I learned all about St. Expeditus, patron saint of hurrying things up.
You relished this subject, didnt you?
In some ways, the saints are wonderfully kitschy, comedy-in-waiting. I dont mean that disrespectfully. People focus, and for good reason, on the darker side of Catholicism, but theres this wonderful lighthearted side thats filled with life.
What difference do you think the saints make?
Oh, it gives you a place to go with your little needs -- actually not always little needs, but those daily things you worry about. One of the things thats so hilarious is how specific they are; you literally have this army of men and women you can turn to. If youre having trouble in gym class, St. Sebastians your man -- who else is going to care?
National Catholic Reporter October 31, 2008
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Luverne Otto Schroeder, age 79, of Spring Grove, passed away Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at Tweeten Healthcare in Spring Grove.
Luverne was born in Wilmington, Minn., on Aug. 26, 1934, to Henry and Elsa (Buzitsky) Schroeder. He was one of five children. He graduated in 1952 from Spring Grove High School. Luverne married Carol Storlie in 1955. They had four children.
Luverne had an engineering mind, but had a love for the farming business. He worked for Onstad Dairy for many years delivering milk to various communities. Finally in 1966, he started his life's work, opening Schroeder Surge Service in Spring Grove, installing and servicing dairy equipment until he retired in 2000.
Luverne was very proud of his German heritage. He enjoyed golfing, fishing with his grandkids, landscaping, woodworking and creating things in his shop. He loved watching his kids and grandkids play sports of any kind. He was an AA member, Boy Scout leader and member of Trinity Lutheran Church.
Luverne is survived by his wife, Carol, and their children, Connie (Gary) Strinmoen, Spring Grove; Curt (Kathy) Schroeder, Rochester; Cindy (Rick) Flatin, Houston, Minn.; and Christy (Al) Sanderson, Wenceville, Mo.; nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; his brother, Verdell (Doris) Schroeder, Statesville, N.C.; and his sister, Yvonne (Tom) Roth, Albuquerque, N.M.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sisters, Naomi Onsgard and Verna Corbin.
Funeral services will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Spring Grove. Burial will be in the Trinity Church Cemetery. Pastor Stephanie Frey will officiate. Friends may call Friday from 4-7 p.m. at Roble Funeral Home in Spring Grove and one hour prior to services at the church on Saturday.


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An Interesting Juncture -- for the Dow
I don't believe I have ever seen a market like this. It has no follow-through, whether it rallies or goes down -- in other words, we're still seeing very choppy action.
Most days, when we discuss "the market," we're looking at the S&P 500. For example, it seemed everyone was so intent on watching the 200-day moving average for that big breakout or failure -- but it was the 200-day in the S&P, and not anywhere else....434 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon yesterday said despite the rift torn between the PNCR and some Linden groups in the recent weeks, he and other "disenfranchised" members remain committed to the party and to working to ensure the grievances are resolved.
"The developments that occurred at the party's Congress are now part of the past which we must now put into perspective, review and work diligently to prevent in the future," Solomon declared yesterday during a press conference at the Critchlow Labour College.
"…We are faced with the task of moving forward, mending our rifts, of correcting our weaknesses and building on our strengths to face the national challenges that go over and beyond the challenges we face internally," he also told reporters, while adding that Linden supporters will continue to "challenge the party when and where necessary, not to destroy our party but to build its ability to deal with dissent, challenges and changes."
Solomon indicated that he was at the time speaking on behalf of Vanessa Kissoon, Leslie Gonsalves, and other aggrieved Lindeners.
These statements may come as a surprise to many who might have felt that Solomon's, Kissoon's, and Aubrey Norton's grievances will translate to a peeling away of at least some of the Linden support from the PNCR, especially as Norton, who dropped out of the race to be the party's leader owing to a lack of confidence in the accreditation process, signalled that he may give thought to whether he has a future in the party.
Accreditation woes
Solomon yesterday also noted that there were issues with the accreditation of delegates from Linden months before frustrations boiled over on Saturday and again on Sunday. Despite efforts to address these issues, he said, they remained unresolved and this led to Norton pulling out of the race to be party leader.
Solomon, who was also nominated to challenge Granger for the party's reins, yesterday said that he decided to pull out late last week after deciding that the concerns of the Linden groups, including the accreditation of its delegates, had not been properly addressed. This, he said, was expressed to a meeting of 250 people during a meeting on Thursday.
Solomon said that because the issue of delegates was not addressed, the region is still unable to say exactly how many delegates it should have had accredited. He said these and other issues remained contentious despite efforts over the last two years to resolve them. "Region 10 is committed to have all outstanding issues over the last two years addressed by putting in place acceptable modalities. These include the electoral processes and other pressing internal matters that gave rise to the chaos, long before Congress was convened," he noted.
According to Solomon, the PNCR is still seen as the vanguard party in which members are allowed to challenge their leaders and he said leaders need to get accustomed to such challenges. PNCR member Carl Greenidge, who himself challenged Granger for leadership in 2012, had said on Sunday that there is a feeling that once there is a leader there should be no challenger. Such a notion, he said, is flawed.
Solomon says that the party has systems which makes provisions for the participation of all party members and lamented that such systems have been intentionally violated. He therefore holds that the violators be determined and held accountable to ensure that the constitution is always honoured.
"The PNCR though shaken by this recent chaos must grow from these experiences," the Regional Chairman said.
Solomon added that Region 10 remains committed to leadership by example and the PNCR, which he said has the means to show how good governance is intended to be. "The people of Region 10 demand this of the PPP/C government. We demand it of our party! We demand it for all Guyana. It is what we deserve. It is the progressive, democratic way forward. It must represent the New Guyana where leaders are held accountable at all levels," he added.
Kissoon/Clarke dispute
Last Tuesday representatives of the PNCR's Linden groups, led by Region 10 Councillor Gonsalves, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the party was dealing with the dispute between Kissoon and party General Secretary Oscar Clarke. The two reportedly had an altercation during which both of them expressed unsavory sentiments.
But instead of convening a disciplinary committee to deal with the matter, in accordance with the party's constitution, its executive committee opted to endorse an earlier decision by party leader David Granger to suspend Kissoon. A disciplinary committee was only set up after the matter ended up in the media and Granger maintains that the actions taken against Kissoon were in accordance with the party's constitution, despite Kissoon's firm stance that they were not.
Not only has the party been criticised for the perceived unjust way Kissoon has been suspended but there are also concerns that he disciplinary committee which is hearing the matter is made up of executive members of the party who participated in the decision to suspend her without due process.
During Congress proceedings, Clarke refused to shake Kissoon's hand, saying she was illegitimately present, although she was subsequently provided with a delegate's card by senior party member Winston Felix.
Granger told reporters on Sunday night that Kissoon's suspension was temporarily lifted for her to participate in the Congress.
When Stabroek News called him yesterday, however, he said that while he "may have said" that the ban was lifted he could not revisit the topic as he did not have a copy of the recommendations of the disciplinary committee with him. He added that whatever decision was made in Kissoon's case was in accordance with that report, which was submitted last week.
SVN student tops CAPE
Vamanadev Hiralall, of the privately-run Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN), is the country's top performer at this year's Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) after achieving an accumulated 13 grade one and 3 grade two passes.
Top CSEC students say number of subjects increase options, test limits
Twenty-six students in the top one percent of the 12,684 who sat this year's Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC) examinations earned 12 or more Grade I passes, with half of them, including the top performer, coming from Queen's College (QC).
Hemraj Kissoon, others testify at CoI for return of lands
On the second day of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into African ancestral lands and other matters, four witnesses made cases for the return of lands they feel they are rightly entitled to, which were either taken by the state or occupied by private owners.
Wheelchair bound accused found dead in prison cell
Shelton George, the man charged with both murdering a waitress at a Chinese restaurant and the attempted murder of a magistrate, was found dead in his cell at the Lusignan Prison yesterday morning.
Triumph NDC orders halt to ground-shaking works
The Chairman of the Triumph Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) yesterday instructed workers employed on a private site, reportedly intended to build a first-floor pool, to cease operations, just two days after residents called on authorities to halt its construction.


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11-2013 Update
Dear business partner,
Let's talk training as it's so critical for the industry overall. I'm talking all types of training from training focused on product installation to learning how to properly promote a metal roofing system. Good training can help us all succeed. Knowing that, I thought it might be good to call out a few training programs that we offer at Fabral, training that is available on-site, in-field, and online.
- Online Installation Video Library; this online resources allows installers to train in the field or get questions answered on the job site.
- In the Field Training; our sales representatives can meet with installers to review our product offering and installation tips.
- Training at Fabral; plan a trip to Fabral and spend time talking with our experienced engineering team. Go on a plant tour and spend some time in our hands-on training room. Talk with your sales representative if there is an interest.
- AIA Lunch and Learn Events; if you have customers requiring AIA credits, we have the classes to meet those needs. 7 Classes that cover architectural copper to energy savings.
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Fabral understands the importance of proper training, and values the opportunity to work with you. Again, if there is interest to learn more, talk with your sales representative about training for 2014.
As always, send me your questions and comments. I can be reached directly at Fabral.com/JonHaleyFeedback.
Jon Haley , Vice President of Sales – Fabral


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Events Calendar View full calendar
The Young Bach
Suffolk Villages Festival
St Mary's Church, Boxford
Sunday 30 March 6:00pm
Tickets for this event are no longer available online or by phone but will be available on the door 1 hour prior to the performance.
Sunday 30 March, 6.00 p.m.
St Mary's Church, Boxford
J.S. Bach: Actus Tragicus BWV 106 (1707)
Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri (1680)
Claire Tomlin soprano
members of Essex Baroque Orchestra
directed by Peter Holman
In 1705 the young J.S. Bach walked 250 miles to visit the aged Dieterich Buxtehude in Lübeck. Buxtehude was his greatest predecessor, and his best-known work, an intense and passionate cycle of seven passion cantatas collectively entitled Membra Jesu nostri (The Remains of our Jesus), shows us why he made the journey. We perform it with J.S. Bach's first masterpiece, the Actus Tragicus (the funeral cantata 'Gottes Zeit ist der allerbeste Zeit'), and other music by Buxtehude. The concert features rich and varied combinations of solo voices, choir, violins, viols, recorders and organ.
Tickets: £18 (reserved), £12 (unreserved) with half-price tickets available to full-time students.
Please note that there is a non-refundable £1 administration charge for all online and telephone bookings.
A season ticket for both SVF concerts is available by calling the box office on 01904 651485For more information visit www.suffolkvillagesfestival.com


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Put the Heimlich manoeuvre on Andy Irons. There's something stuck in his throat. The former runaway leader of the world championship race had another first-round loss on Tuesday, going down to West Australian Jake Paterson in the Nova Schin Festival at Silveira in Brazil to continue his six-month long choke.
Irons had a second world title in the bag earlier this year when he won events at Bells Beach, Fiji and Japan.
Since then, however, the Hawaiian - admitting he gets "voodooed out by everyone wanting me to lose" - has bombed out in South Africa, California and Spain's Mundaka to let six-times champion Kelly Slater take top spot and WA's Taj Burrow close the gap in third place to virtually nothing.
Paterson pulled into a deep 1.5-metre tube for a near-perfect 9.5-point ride on Tuesday to relegate Irons into a dangerous sudden-death second-round heat against local wildcard Fabricio Machado. "The waves were really similar to a place back at home which Taj Burrow and I surf all the time," Paterson said. "It's our favourite wave, so I just took it easy and waited for the really good ones. I've had Andy so many times this year already, and though I'm not comfortable being against him, there are no nerves at all. I just know I've got to do well to beat him."
Slater, who leapt past Irons in the points race when he won last week at Mundaka, jumped all over Sydney's Nathan Hedge and Brazilian wildcard Diego Rosa to rub salt water into Irons's wounds.
"The heat felt all right," Slater said. "It feels good to get that heat out of the way. We'll see what happens, but I don't expect Andy to have too much trouble with the wildcards in this contest. I think he's going to be pretty fired up and get himself back in groove."
World No. 3 Burrow went straight into the third round by taking care of Sydney's Richie Lovett and Brazil's national champion Leonardo Neves.
Other Australian winners included Toby Martin, Luke Egan, Trent Munro, Kieren Perrow, world No. 4 Mick Fanning, No. 5 Joel Parkinson and Danny Wills.
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Home » Directory » Gujarat » Vadodara » Travel & Tourism » Hotel Reservation Agents
Hotel Reservation Agents in VadodaraHotel reservation has always been one of the important aspects of travel to any destination. Having an efficient hotel reservation agent is always a good idea, someone who can take care of your accommodation needs ensuring that your travel experience turns out to be a memorable one. The hotel reservation agents directory intends to put together all the leading travel agencies under a common online platform for your easy reference. The online guide on hotel reservation agents will present you with important information relates to the travel agents of India.
Latest Website Listings
- Ram Krishna Travels Ram Krishna Travels main service area includes booking of domestic and international air tickets along with international holiday packages.we provides itself with IATA accreditation and provide specialized designed tours to corporate, semi government and government, and bank professionals.
- Posun Tours & Travels Posun Tours & Travels is the pioneer to introduce the concept of tour organizing all over India. A rare achievement is accomplished to ensure respectful traveling and utmost customer satisfaction. We were the first to start the tour to Portblair & we are proud to announce that, we are the part of Kerla holiday club, which is certainly a rare achievement ever.
- Cinderella Travels Cinderella Travels is a full-fledged Travel Agency & Travel Company since 22 years.We offer all categories of Hotel accommodation & facilities.We specializes in Cultural tours, Adventure tours, Incentive groups, Pilgrimage tours, Honeymoon Packages.
- Thomas Travel Solutions Thomas Travel Solutions are a professionally managed, IATA accredited travel company delivering client focused travel management excellence.we specialize in corporate travel management. We are official travel agents to major corporate houses of Baroda. We provide round-the-clock services on all days. Our key personnel have been provided with Cellular phones for easy accessibility.
- Sunbeams Travels Sunbeams Travels is an IATA accredited Travel Agency has been consistently involved in providing reliable traveling solutions and growing along with its customers in an innovative manner. We are a reputed and professionally managed company which has been in the business of Travel & Visa Processing and Air Ticketing since 1990.
- Chandani Travels Chandani Travels is a Travel Agency established in the year 1980 and incorporated in 1992 as a Private Limited Company . It is one of the leading full service Travel & Tour company in India with a track record of consistent growth and profitability. Recognized in the industry and by all Major Airlines of the world as a leading agent in the field.
- Hotel Yuvraj Hotel Yuvraj, a Govt. approved 3star sensation spread over thirty thousand sq. feet of the heart of the city. Is well known for its hospitality and pure vegetarian cuisine. The Hotel is centrally located and situated just a stones throw away from the railway station and central S.T. bus depot; 7kms from the airport and in close proximity to the commercial and shopping hub of downtown Vadodara.
- Prominent Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd. Offer domestic & international air ticketing, railway bookings, foreign exchange, passport & visa, car rentals, hotel reservations and international tours for leisure & business, incentive tours and holiday packages.
More Categories
Hotel Reservation Agents - ALL INDIA
@ All India (1257)
© SurfIndia . All Rights Reserved.


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Troy's Folly by Joyce Fassbender
Welcome! You are browsing as a guestWould you like to see 11 projects made from this pattern and much more? create a free account What am I missing?
by jjdemary Flickr
Troy's Folly
This pattern is available for $1.99 USD
buy it now or visit pattern website
buy it now or visit pattern website
This is a winged triangular shawlette with a garter stitch border that is knit from center back to the bottom edge. Yarn overs at each end and along the center stitch are used to form the triangle shape. Increases are worked on both right and wrong sides.
This pattern is charted and customizable.
For more information, see: http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Troys_Folly_Shawl_...


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Social Media's A Stage, And We're All Merely Players
Hey, breaking news, guys: the paper of record has just discovered that social media makes breaking up harder than it used to be. In an article called "Breaking Up in a Digital Fishbowl," The New York Times reports that in this day of shared email passwords, Facebook, Twitter and various other social media platforms, it's nearly impossible to truly disconnect from an ex:
[The] idea of what it means to break up is [also] being redefined. Where once a spurned lover could use scissors (literally) to cut an ex out of the picture, digital images of the smiling couple in happier days abound on the Web and are difficult to delete. Status updates and tweets have a way of wending their way back to scorned exes, thanks to the interconnectedness of social media. And breakups, awkward and drawn-out in person, are even more so online as details are parsed by the curious, their faces pressed against the digital glass.
Even for those of us who have been spared messy online breakups, it isn't exactly news that sites like Facebook redefine (and invent new) dating rituals that are complex and difficult to navigate. Though the article lacks any actual news, it does give us an excuse to revisit the issue, one that brings many questions to the forefront. Like: is the convenience of connection worth the price of our privacy? And: are we merely "performers" on the stage of social media platforms, continually changing our role as our relationships to the other players change and evolve?Count me among the people who would be hesitant to change my relationship status until I was sure that said relationship was serious. In fact, it wasn't until I began dating my husband that I ever listed myself as "in a relationship" on any social media site. Then again, it was 2006 when we met, and sites like Twitter and Facebook were still mere babies and I wasn't active on either of them. But even on my personal blog, which I started a couple years before I met my husband, and on sites like MySpace and Friendster (remember those?), which I had a presence on, I avoided ever giving specific details about my dating life. It's funny for a blogger to say, but I didn't want to give up my privacy, or jeopardize budding relationships, or make the inevitable disentanglement of those short-lived relationships any more complicated than they had to be. But now that I am in a relationship I acknowledge online, I can't say I'm any less of a performer than everyone else who makes their private lives public.
Sure, the chances of me separating from my husband are much slimmer than the person who just began dating her new boyfriend a few months ago, but we're both engaging in an online performance. We post smiling photos of ourselves with our significant others and link to their respective pages. We tweet about vacations we take, spending the holidays with our "boos" (well, OK, I would never use that word, but still) and how nice it is to ring in the new year with someone we love. And for whose benefit? Former high school classmates we haven't seen in 15 years? Frenemies we feel a little competitive with? For the guy who broke our heart and still has access to our Facebook page? After all, our close friends — the people we hopefully still engage with offline — already know about our private lives. And they know about them in a much more intimate way than those who view them through the distilled presentation we perform online.
Presenting our lives in a neatly-wrapped package isn't new, of course. It wasn't born in the digital age. Christmas cards and newsletters are an example of a similar performance that has existed far longer than the internet. But social media, certainly, makes these presentations much more pervasive … and a lot harder to distance ourselves from when the package changes. I'm not suggesting we should stop sharing personal information online (my feeling is that that's becoming increasingly impossible), or even that these performances are necessarily "bad." They aren't, and their benefits are worth a post of their own. But I do think we should — all of us — be more guarded in the connections we make on social media sites, the people we let into our (online) lives, and what we choose to reveal about ourselves. Most importantly, we need to question our own motives for sharing what we do (and realize that others have their own motives, too).
For some people, the motivation in sharing certain things lies in measuring where they stand with someone else. Our own Amelia, for example, says:
My current boyfriend and I knew each other a few years ago but then reconnected via Facebook. I started noticing that he would "like" my status updates or comment on my wall posts. So now, to a certain degree, I know that if he continues to do that, he's still into me. I mean, we're sort of past the point of not knowing how the other feels, but, say, if we get in a little fight or something and I'm maybe feeling a little insecure, I'll find myself posting a status update or link or something that I KNOW he would find interesting, almost to bait him. If he responds in some way, I know things are okay. It's definitely a way of assessing whether someone is into you. Even when I was just randomly dating dudes, one way they would show they were interested is retweeting something I wrote on Twitter or posting a link from The Frisky — once they stop doing that, WARNING SIGN.
She also adds:
Even though I am not friends with my ex on Facebook anymore, a few of my friends still are, mostly so they can tag me in photos where I look amazing and am having fun. That way if my ex ever looks at their photos he'll see me thriving without him.
In the end, "virtual reality" isn't real reality; it's a mega-performance in which we're all players, often motivated by desires far more complex — and often less benign — than simply wanting to connect.


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Rummenigge: "Inter remain in my heart…"
Former Inter player and current CEO of Bayern Munich Karl-Heinz Rummenigge spoke to Inter Channel as the two sides met in North Carolina last night.
Sky: Oscar fits within Suning's parameters
Sky have confirmed that Chelsea midfielder Oscar is indeed a concrete transfer target for Inter this summer. It seems the Brazilian midfielder does not fit
SporTV: Jorge Jesus: "Sporting will decide João Mário's future"
Sporting CP midfielder João Mário is a player who continues to be linked with a summer move to Inter. However, the way in which his
Sky: No medical tomorrow for Candreva
Antonio Candreva will not undergo his medical ahead of his pending switch to Inter tomorrow, as had previously been reported. According to Lalaziosiamonoi, he will
Calm between Mancini and Icardi…
Mauro Icardi has moved to end speculation of a rift with Roberto Mancini via Instagram. Inter's captain posted a picture of himself and the coach
Di Marzio: Inter contact Chelsea for Oscar
Chelsea's Oscar is the newest name linked to Inter. Inter have contacted Chelsea for the Brazilian playmaker. The survey was done to understand the primary
Sky: Derby D'Italia for Gabigol?
Inter have made an approach towards Juventus target Gabriel Barbosa. "We have spoken with Inter, but to date we have not received any official offer
Premium Sport—Andrea Pinamonti: I'm learning and Improving
A young Inter striker, Andrea Pinamonti, shared his thoughts on the pre-season tour and his interaction with the senior members of the squad. Interviewed by
Sky Italia: Roma wants Dodo to replace Mario Rui
As understood by Sky Italia, Roma wants their old player Dodo Pires to replace Mario Rui as the latter have picked up a serious
OFFICIAL: Ansaldi is a Nerazzurro
He had joined the team long ago but today Inter made it official that Christian Ansaldi has joined Inter from Genoa CFC on a permanent
Zenga appointed as Wolves manager
Former Inter goalkeeper Walter Zenga has been appointed manager of English Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers. The 56-year-old has managed
Il Mattino: Monday the decisive day for Icardi future, Napoli offer 56m
Napoli continue to push for Mauro Icardi. Il Mattino report that the partenopei offered Inter a handsome 56m
GdS: Inter ready to hijack Juve Gabigol bid
Gazzetta dello Sport report that Inter are prepared to hijack Juventus' move for Santos starlet Gabriel Barbosa, otherwise known
Gazzetta – Ansaldi's transfer to Inter to be made offical soon
Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Cristian Ansaldi's move to Inter will be made official any day now. According to the report, the reason it has
UK Press – Man United chasing Miranda & Icardi wants Arsenal-move
British tabloids are reporting on a possible move to the Premier League for Inter duo Miranda and Mauro Icardi. The Daily Mail reports that former
Corriere dello Sport – Candreva reduces wage request to help Inter sign him
Corriere dello Sport reveals an important detail regarding the negotiations between Inter and Lazio for Antonio Candreva. According to the Rome-based newspaper, Candreva has agreed
Gazzetta – Inter to make new attempt to sign Lass Diarra
Gazzetta dello Sport report that after having practically wrapped up the Candreva-transfer from Lazio, Inter are now focusing yet again on Lassana Diarra. It is
Jeison Murillo to Inter Channel: "Our goal is to qualify for the Champions League"
Colombian defender Jeison Murillo was interviewed by Inter Channel where he spoke about last season, his expectations for this season as well as other topics.
Di Marzio – Candreva edges closer to Inter
Gianluca Di Marzio reports that further signs that Antonio Candreva is on his way to leave Lazio is emerging. According to the report Candreva "today
Eder wants to prove himself
"I have a great desire to prove: Inter found a Eder who has always wanted to do, to run, to prove." "I think we're a


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