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How Can Science End Food Allergies?
The headlines might seem lifted straight out of a dystopian novel at the moment, but there's some good news for at least two groups of people: those who suffer from food allergies and those who are at risk of developing them.
As far as they're concerned, we're living in the middle of a scientific and medical revolution. In recent years, our knowledge and understanding of food allergies have radically shifted, and we've made some major breakthroughs in being able to prevent and reverse these conditions that afflict millions of people around the world.
In the not too distant future, food allergies could even become a thing of the past. It's a ray of hope in a time full of darkness, especially if you or any of your loved ones suffer from food allergies yourselves.
But even if you're lucky enough to be allergy-free, it's a fascinating and inspiring development in modern medicine, and you're about to learn some of the stories and science behind it.
One important thing to mention: if you suffer from allergies, please don't make any changes to your diet without consulting your doctor.
Allergist Gideon Lack developed a revolutionary hypothesis about food allergies.
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a British researcher named Gideon Lack was feeling a mixture of puzzlement and alarm.
As a pediatric allergist at King's College London, he'd seen the rate of peanut allergies in the UK double in just 10 years. Meanwhile, more British parents than ever were following the standard medical advice of the time. It boiled down to a simple message: don't feed your baby peanuts. That way, you'll avoid the risk of them developing a peanut allergy.
Sounds logical – but apparently it wasn't working, and no one knew why.
Then something happened. During a trip to Tel Aviv, Lack stumbled upon a pair of facts that led him to a eureka moment. The result would be a hypothesis that turned the conventional wisdom on food allergies on its head.
Lack had come to Tel Aviv to give a talk about peanut allergies to a group of Israeli clinicians. At one point during the talk, he asked his audience members for a show of hands: who here has treated at least one case of peanut allergy in the past year?
Whenever he asked this question in the UK, nearly all the hands would go up. But there, in Tel Aviv, only a couple did. Apparently, British children were suffering from peanut allergies at a much higher rate than Israeli children – ten times higher (1.85 versus only 0.17 percent), he later found out.
That was the first fact he stumbled upon. What explained it? Well, that brings us to the second fact.
One day, shortly after his talk, Lack was having lunch with some Israeli friends. One of them was a mother, who was feeding her baby some food. It was a very common baby snack in Israel, his friends informed him. Just out of curiosity, he asked if he could try it for himself.
The snack tasted like peanut butter.
It turned out that Israeli babies were eating food containing peanuts at a much higher rate than British babies – seven times higher (69 versus 10 percent) by the age of nine months old, he later determined.
Could the two facts be connected? Could early exposure to peanuts actually help children to be less likely to develop peanut allergies, rather than the other way around? So, was avoidance a misguided idea? And could the same thing be true of other food allergies as well?
Lack suspected the answer to all of these questions was yes. But it's one thing to come up with a hypothesis. It's another to test it, let alone confirm it.
Further research was necessary.
Food allergies are a global problem, afflicting both children and adults at alarmingly growing rates.
We'll get back to Gideon Lack's hypothesis a little bit later, but first, let's zoom out and look at the bigger picture. You see, that rise in peanut allergies Lack was observing in the UK wasn't just an anomaly. It was part of a much larger trend.
Around the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, things were getting even worse in the US. In 1997, less than 0.5 percent of American children had peanut allergies. By 2018, that percentage had more than quadrupled to 2.2.
But the problem of food allergies goes way beyond peanuts, and it's hardly confined to children in Western countries like the US and UK.
Peanuts are just one of the eight most common food allergens – food substances that cause allergic reactions in people who suffer from food allergies. The others include eggs, fish, shellfish, wheat, soy, milk, and tree nuts, like almonds and pistachios. In recent decades, all eight allergens have been claiming more and more victims.
That's been especially true in the US, where the percentage of children with one or more food allergies went up 8.5 percent from 1997 to 2011. But similar increases have been going on elsewhere. For instance, China saw a 7.7 percent rise in the percentage of infants with food allergies between 1999 and 2009.
And it's not just infants and children. In both the US and UK, more than 10 percent of adults have one or more food allergies, and almost half of them developed at least one of those allergies in adulthood. A similar story is playing out across the world. Globally, researchers estimate that up to 8 percent of children and 11 percent of adults suffer from food allergies.
Now, the percentages vary from country to country, and so does the quantity and quality of the data that's available to us. But while the details are complicated and sometimes a little murky, the overall picture is clear: food allergies have become a major problem just about everywhere. Estimated rates ranging from 4 to 15 percent of children and adults can be found in nations as diverse as Ghana, Tanzania, Japan, Taiwan, Colombia, Canada, Australia, Poland, and Bulgaria.
If ever there was a time for some fresh thinking on food allergies, that time would be now.
No single theory fully explains why people suffer from food allergies, and many factors are at play.
Before we go back to Gideon Lack's hypothesis, let's round out our bigger picture with some important caveats.
Food allergies have been on the rise in modern times, but they're hardly a new phenomenon. Neither is the desire to understand them. All the way back in the fifth century BC, the ancient Greek physician Hypocrites observed people suffering from cheese allergies. He theorized that their "constitutions" were simply "hostile" to the dairy product.
Food allergy science has come a long way since then. But although it's made some major breakthroughs, it still has some equally major mysteries left to solve.
The details of how and why food allergies happen are complicated, and they're still not fully grasped by science. But the general facts are fairly straightforward and well-established.
Essentially, allergic reactions to a certain type of food happen when the body's immune system mistakes that food's proteins for dangerous foreign substances.
At that point, the system's alarm bells start ringing, and it goes into defense mode – triggering various physical responses that are designed to repel the attack it believes it's under. The resulting inflammation, muscle contractions, and enzyme-production lead to one or more allergic reactions, such as itchy skin, hives, shortness of breath, vomiting, or dangerously low blood pressure.
So what makes the immune system go haywire? And why has this been happening to more and more people in recent decades? Scientists have put forward several theories. Some of them point to genetics, others to changes in our environments, diets, and lifestyles, along with their effects on our gut bacteria.
To one degree or another, all of these theories have some credence and help to explain the matter. But none of them are fully satisfactory by themselves.
For example, one genetic theory centers on an antibody in our blood called Immunoglobulin E, or IgE, which plays a big role in triggering allergic reactions to food. Now, people with food allergies usually have high levels of IgE. Those levels, in turn, seem to be determined by certain genes. But not everyone with high amounts of IgE ends up developing a food allergy, so this theory alone can't explain the phenomenon.
In all likelihood, food allergies are the result of a complex array of interconnected factors – genes interacting with environments interacting with diets, and so on. The only simple explanation is there is no simple explanation.
So keep that in mind as we focus on Gideon Lack's hypothesis. It's just one piece – albeit a very important piece – of a much bigger puzzle.
The prevalence of peanut allergies can't be explained by genetics or other medical conditions.
Alright, so now let's return to Gideon Lack's hypothesis. Does early exposure to peanuts really affect whether children subsequently develop peanut allergies?
After his trip to Israel, Lack had a hunch that the answer was yes. But at this point, it was only that, a hunch. To feel enough confidence to advance it as a scientific hypothesis, he first had to rule out some other possible explanations.
Maybe fewer Israeli babies suffered from peanut allergies than British babies because they simply had different genes. Or maybe they just had lower rates of other medical conditions that were connected to peanut allergies, such as asthma.
It turned out that neither explanation held up to scrutiny.
To get to the bottom of the matter, Lack and his colleagues collected data on 8,826 Jewish children in both Israel and the UK. Why Jewish children? Well, they shared the same genetic profile, so that could help the researchers control for this variable.
The children of both countries also had similar rates of asthma, so Lack and his colleagues could control for that variable as well. If the two groups of children still had different rates of peanut allergies despite sharing these similarities, that would seem to rule out genetics and asthma as an explanation.
Sure enough, that's exactly what they discovered. In fact, the results of their research allowed Lack and his colleagues to go even further.
By collecting data and crunching the numbers, they were able to rule out many other possible explanations as well, such as differences in the children's social class and how much they suffered from other allergic conditions that could be related to peanut allergies. Those included milk, egg, sesame, and tree nut allergies, as well as hay fever and eczema – a condition characterized by red, itchy skin.
Now, it might seem unsurprising that multiple food allergies could come hand in hand. But what could a skin condition like eczema possibly have to do with an allergy to eating peanuts? The connection isn't immediately obvious.
Nonetheless, it definitely exists. Research has shown that children with severe eczema are at a significantly greater risk of developing peanut allergies. Why? Well, the answer to that question plays a big role in what Lack and his colleagues did next.
The dual-allergen exposure theory suggests that our skin might be one of the main conduits of developing food allergies.
To understand the connection between eczema and peanut allergies, it helps to remember what the point of having skin is in the first place.
From a biological standpoint, our skin is essentially a barrier between our bodies' internal organs and the outside world. It prevents foreign substances like microbes from getting inside us and wreaking havoc.
Or at least that's what it's supposed to do. Unfortunately, conditions like eczema can weaken the skin and make it more permeable, allowing invaders to push on through.
What does this have to do with food allergies? Well, the answer to that question brings us to something called the dual-allergen exposure theory.
Imagine you're a baby growing up in a household where your parents follow the conventional wisdom on food allergies and avoid feeding you anything with peanuts in it. The thinking behind this approach seems reasonable enough: if peanuts can cause allergic reactions, just stay clear of them, and you'll avoid the potential risks of eating peanuts as well.
But here's the problem, peanut proteins have another way of getting into your body – your skin. If anyone in your family eats anything with peanuts in it, some peanut residue will get into your household dust. It will also linger on their skin and saliva for up to three hours after eating – plenty of time for them to transfer it to your skin by touching you or kissing you.
Once that happens, there's a slight chance some peanut proteins will sneak their way into your body through your skin – a risk that becomes much greater if you're suffering from a condition like eczema.
Now, let's say some peanut residue does, in fact, make its way inside your body. How's your immune system going to react? Well, if you've never eaten peanuts before, it won't be familiar with their proteins. This will increase the chance it'll see them as harmful foreign invaders to defend against, rather than beneficial nutrients to leave alone.
And that, in turn, will increase the chance that the immune system will trigger an allergic reaction to ward off the perceived threat.
At that point, you have the makings of a peanut allergy. And according to the dual-allergen exposure theory, the same thing can happen with any other food allergen.
Gideon Lack hypothesized that eating food containing allergens could help babies avoid food allergies – and vice-versa.
So does the dual-allergen exposure theory have any evidence in its favor?
Yes, it does. One study found that the skin of infants with peanut allergies was exposed to peanut residue ten times more often than their non-allergic counterparts, due to differences in their environments.
Another study showed that just a little skin exposure to peanut oil could increase children's risk of developing peanut allergies by the age of five years old.
But don't just blame the skin or the peanut-contaminated hands, mouths, or dust that might come into contact with it.
The problem isn't skin exposure per se; it's skin exposure combined with the tendency to avoid feeding infants food containing potential allergens – also known as allergenic food. And this brings us back to Gideon Lack's hypothesis.
Lack's underlying contention was two-fold. On the one hand, eating allergenic food could help babies' immune systems learn to perceive them as friends instead of foes. On the other hand, avoiding that food could do the opposite. It could teach the immune system to perceive those allergens as enemies when it eventually encountered them through skin exposure or accidental consumption.
If all that's correct, the implications would be enormous. For decades, medical authorities around the world had been advising parents to avoid feeding their babies allergenic food.
Not only that, they'd also been advising mothers to avoid eating that food themselves during pregnancy and breastfeeding. That way, they'd prevent the allergens from getting transferred to the babies through their mothers' umbilical cords or breastmilk.
Over the decades, this advice seeped into the public consciousness of many parents, who took it to heart and dutifully followed the avoidance strategy it advocated. Unfortunately, this did little to prevent babies from developing food allergies. In fact, as we've seen, the rate of food allergies skyrocketed instead.
If Lack was correct, those two facts could be related. Avoidance could be aggravating the problem of food allergies, instead of solving it. And in that case, the conventional advice would be woefully misguided.
In fact, the opposite advice might be in order: parents should actively try to include allergenic foods in their babies' diets, rather than avoiding them – and mothers shouldn't avoid eating them during pregnancy or breastfeeding either.
But only if Lack was correct – a very big if.
The LEAP study confirmed Lack's hypothesis that early exposure makes children less likely to develop peanut allergies.
We now arrive at the pivotal question: was Lack's hypothesis correct? Does eating peanuts at an early age prevent babies from developing peanut allergies?
Starting in 2006, Lack and some colleagues set out to answer that question. It was called the LEAP study – a catchy acronym for a much less catchy phrase: Learning Early About Peanut Allergy.
Published in 2015, the study took nearly 10 years to complete, and it required funding from three organizations, participation of hundreds of infants and parents, and the consumption of who knows how many peanuts. But in the end, all the hard work paid off. It turned out that Lack was right.
To conduct the LEAP study, Lack and his colleagues recruited 640 infants (along with their parents, of course). Some of the infants already had peanut allergies. Most of them didn't. All of them had severe eczema, an egg allergy, or both, which put them at high risk of developing peanut allergies.
Lack and his colleagues then took all of these infants and split them into two groups. Over the first two years of their lives, half of them would completely avoid eating any food with peanuts in it. The other half would eat food containing peanuts regularly, in a way that was carefully monitored and administered.
Five years later, the researchers checked back in with their little subjects, who were now young children. How many of them had developed peanut allergies? Were there fewer allergies among the peanut-eating group than the group who avoided eating peanuts?
In short, did the intervention of feeding babies peanuts help to prevent them from developing peanut allergies?
The answer turned out to be an overwhelming yes. Among the peanut-eating babies who didn't have peanut allergies before the study began, there was an astonishing 86 percent fewer who'd developed peanut allergies.
And even among the babies who were allergic to peanuts before the study began, there was an astounding 70 percent reduction in peanut allergies. In other words, eating peanuts actually helped these babies to lose their peanut allergies!
Apparently, the LEAP study's name had been appropriately chosen, because Lack and his colleagues had just made one giant leap for food allergy science.
Introducing babies to allergenic food seems to be a generally good idea, but there are some important caveats.
In the wake of the remarkable success of the LEAP study, food allergists from around the world were inspired to pursue many avenues of follow-up research. What came next was a veritable alphabet soup of acronyms.
First, there was the LEAP-ON study. Then there were the EAT, PETIT, BEAT, STAR, STEP, and HEAP studies.
Now, if this were the Hollywood movie version of the story, the next part would be about how all this follow-up research confirmed the LEAP study's initial findings about peanut allergies and then extended them to other food allergies as well.
And that is what actually happened – sort of. But the reality of food allergy science is a bit messier than a feel-good film's triumphal tale of unambiguous success.
We won't go into the details or even the acronyms of all those follow-up studies, but here's the bottom line. As far as peanut allergies go, the findings of the LEAP study were further bolstered by the LEAP-ON study. The EAT study then showed that it was safe for babies to eat sesame, milk, fish, eggs, and wheat during the first six months of their lives.
So, the EAT study provided further evidence against the conventional wisdom that parents should avoid feeding their babies allergenic food. But a separate analysis of this study failed to establish that there was a benefit to feeding them such food, rather than a lack of danger. This failure might have been due to issues with the amount of food they were fed, which raises a still-open question about how much allergenic food is best.
For the rest of the alphabet soup of studies, the results were also a little mixed. All of them focused on egg allergies, and most of them showed analogous results to the LEAP study: feeding babies eggs appeared to decrease their risk of developing egg allergies. But the effect was slight in the STAR study, and it was contradicted by the HEAP study. And in both the HEAP study and the otherwise successful PETIT study, multiple children had to be hospitalized due to allergic reactions.
And that brings us to one last important caveat: if you're a parent of a child at risk of food allergies, don't just feed them allergenic food. Talk to a doctor first.
Oral immunotherapy can reverse already-existing food allergies.
All of the mixed evidence and caveats notwithstanding, a new consensus is now forming within the field of food allergy science and the larger medical community: when it comes to babies' diets, simply avoiding allergenic food is a misguided idea, and early introduction is a better approach, generally speaking.
That's great news if you're a parent of an infant who hasn't yet developed any food allergies. But what if you or a loved one already suffers from them? Well, there's great news for you too. An exciting new approach to food-allergy treatment has entered the medical scene. It's called oral immunotherapy, or OIT for short.
Remember, a food allergy is basically the result of your immune system getting miseducated about which substances entering the body are friendly, nutritious proteins to let by and which ones are hostile foreign invaders to attack. If you think about it, that points to an obvious way of reversing food allergies: re-educate the immune system.
But how do you do that? Very gradually, is the short answer. An OIT treatment begins by asking the patient to eat a tiny amount of the food he's allergic to, usually in powdered and carefully sterilized form. The amount then gets slowly increased over a long period of time.
The goal is to desensitize the patient to the allergen. By getting more and more familiar with it, the patient's immune system becomes less and less prone to perceiving it as a threat. This, in turn, enables the patient to tolerate larger and larger amounts of the food in question.
This process can go on for as long as the patient desires. Some patients just want to reach the point of being able to tolerate trace amounts of the allergen. That way, they don't have to worry as much about their food being contaminated by it.
For instance, a person with a nut allergy would be able to eat food made in a facility that also handles nuts. Other patients want to go further and be able to tolerate larger quantities of the food – perhaps even an entire serving of it.
Why would someone want to quit the treatment earlier than that? Well, as we're about to see, OIT isn't exactly a walk in the park.
OIT is becoming less demanding, dangerous, and time-consuming.
For people with food allergies, there's good news and bad news about OIT.
Let's start with some good news. It works. Numerous studies and clinical trials have shown it to be highly effective.
For example, in a landmark 2019 study that treated people with peanut allergies, 84 percent of participants who received OIT were able to safely consume peanut proteins by the end of the treatment period.
But to reach this point, they had to put in a lot of time and undergo some rather painful, potentially harmful experiences. That's the bad news. Right now, OIT can be difficult to complete. Fortunately, there's also some more good news waiting in the wings.
The amount of time that OIT takes depends on the goal of the patient. If she just wants to be safe from accidental exposure to an allergen, it takes about six months.
If she wants to be completely desensitized to the allergen and be able to eat full servings of the food in question, it takes about two years. In any case, each treatment session can take a couple of hours or more to complete, and a patient has to attend one of them every two weeks or so. In other words, it requires a huge time commitment.
Not only that, but each treatment session essentially consists of the clinician purposefully trying to bring the patient's immune system to the brink of triggering an allergic reaction to the food in question. Sometimes, that brink is exceeded, and the patient has to suffer the consequences. In the early days of OIT, that could often mean experiencing severe allergic reactions.
But as OIT progresses and becomes more fine-tuned, those reactions are becoming milder and less frequent. The overall amount of time it takes is also getting shorter and shorter, thanks to a drug called omalizumab, which can speed up the whole process. Several other experimental drugs could help make it even quicker and safer: mepolizumab, reslizumab, benralizumab, and a bunch of other names that end in "zumab."
Meanwhile, an array of alternative treatments are also in the works, ranging from food allergy vaccines to gene therapy, which aims to directly rewire the immune system itself. The future may be dark in other respects, but it's getting brighter and brighter for those who suffer from food allergies.
Thanks to some recent advances in science and medicine, food allergies could soon be a thing of the past. Introducing babies to allergenic foods at an early age can help prevent them from ever developing food allergies.
Oral immunotherapy can help other people overcome the food allergies they already have. In both cases, careful exposure, rather than avoidance, appears to be the key to success.
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Roller blinds offer elegant, simple window coverings that can easily fit in with nearly every decor. Cleaning techniques for roller blinds depend largely upon the material they're made of. If this material can be submerged in the water, then follow the cleaning instructions described below.
Some Singapore blinds nowadays are made using stiffer fabrics that cannot become saturated with water. If you have installed these types of blinds, then spot cleaning is the best option for you. This type of fabric is easily wipe able so you can do that easily using a damp cloth without taking your blinds down. You just need to unfurl the blind fully and then wipe it using a clean cloth. However, for best results rinse out any dirt from this cloth between wipes.
* If your blinds are too dirty, you should begin the cleaning process by thoroughly vacuuming them to remove all surface dirt.
* Now, remove the blinds from the roller and lay them carefully on the floor.
* Brush its surface using special brush attachment on the vacuum. This will loosen all the dirt, and make washing process easy.
* Next, fill your bathtub about half with warm water.
* Add quality laundry detergent to the water and mix it thoroughly until suds begin to form on the surface. You can also add small amounts of bleach to this water.
* Next, carefully lay all your blinds in this tub. If your blinds are long, you can loosely layer each one of them in an accordion fashion.
* Allow them to soak in this soapy water for few hours.
* Next, start from one end of each blind and gently wipe it back and forth using a sponge or a soft cloth. This will help in removing stains and/or remaining dirt.
* For removing tough stains from roller blinds, you should scrub them gently using an old toothbrush.
* Drain all the sudsy water from the tub.
* Now fill the tub with clean water and rinse all the blinds one-by-one until all the soap is removed. This is important because if soap residue remains in blind, it will act as a magnet to dust and dirt particles.
* If you have a family member or friend to assist, the blinds can also be held up and rinsed using a shower sprayer for much better soap removal.
* Lay all the blinds outside on a clothesline or a drying rack until they're completely dried.
* Attach clean roller blinds onto the roller and reinstall them over the window.
* Regular cleanings can help keep major stains and dirt from building up on roller blinds.
* Avoid using harsh cleaning agents on the fabric as it may permanently damage the material.
* Always use color-safe bleach for added cleaning power on your colored blinds.
* For paper blinds, always spot clean with a moist cloth and allow them to dry completely before reinstalling them over the window.
If you feel basic cleaning methods are not working, or the grime is simply too stubborn, you can use the services of a professional cleaning company in Singapore. Some people believe that it's not within their budget, but it's a fact that professional cleaners charge reasonable rates.
However, whether you can afford a professional cleaning company or not will depend upon your budget, so don't steer away from this option just because others believe professionals aren't in their budget. It's best to seek quotes from few blind cleaning specialists to get a rough idea on the varied pricing.
Many companies use their own specialized equipment and resources to clean your blinds. As some blinds are made using delicate fabrics, professionals will use specific cleaning techniques that suit your specific blind type. This will ensure a long life for your blinds.
Some people prefer to hire professionals each time their roller blinds look a bit scruffy, while others might try to do it themselves to save costs. At the same time there are many who believe their blinds will never look clean unless they're handled by experts.
It's up to you whether you can easily tackle the task of cleaning your roller blinds yourself, but you should definitely look into both the options before selecting your approach. However it's important to keep in mind that blinds do need cleaning, so don't try to forget this aspect of your home! If you are moving out of a rental property and need an end of lease clean then this job will also be included.
At………………………………. you can have this service included as part of some of the cleaning services provided.


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By Editor on March 2003 in Business Briefs
The Columbia-St. Mary's Family Health Center has nearly finished moving from its location on North Lake Drive to a new Riverwest location adjacent to the Jewel-Osco store on the corner of North and Humboldt Avenues. The storefronts along North Ave., which have been vacant since the store opened in early 2000, will house examination rooms, laboratories and conference rooms. The care center will be staffed by residents of the Medical College of Wisconsin and will provide services such as annual exams and physicals, women's health and gynecology, low-risk obstetrics, sports medicine and counseling. The clinic will open in early to mid-March, but will not begin taking new appointments in March.
Coming soon to Riverwest: Patrick Wilber, owner of Realty Executives, will be opening an office at 3201 N. Holton St. around April 1. His company lists The Pub for sale on Fratney and Wright. Riverwest Currents – Volume 2 – Issue 3 – March 2003
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This study was carried out to teachers qualification, Gender and working experience as determinant of secondary school students academic performance in Ado-Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State. Relevant literature were revealed. Descriptive research design was used for this study. The population for the study consisted of teachers of all the secondary schools in Ado –Local Government Area of Ekiti State. One hundred and eighty (180) teachers were sampled using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Questionnaire was used to collect relevant information from the sampled subject. Validity of the instrument was established by given the drafted questionnaires some test export and project supervisor by their correction and suggestion. The reliability was adjudged established. Test –re-test method was used to established the reliability, the questionnaire was administered on a set of twenty teachers outside the sample twice the set of scores collected were correlated with Pearson Moment correlation formular and 0.05 co-efficient was got, this is high enough to determine the reliability, the instrument was administered personally and all were collected back. The scores generated were analysed using frequency count and percentages.
The study revealed that significant difference existed between the performance of students taught by NCE teachers and B.Sc. Ed. teachers, significant difference existed in performance of students taught by B.Sc holder without teaching qualification and B.Sc. Ed. teachers with teaching qualification.
Finding also revealed significant difference between performance of students taught by professional teachers and non-professional teachers in Mathematics, this also corroborate, the need for nonprofessional teachers to embark on Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE or PDE).
Teachers with NCE should strive to improve their knowledge in by acquiring additional qualification through in-service training or part-time or sandwich degree programme in the Universities around their place of working.
Graduate teachers without teaching qualification should endeavour to proceed on PGDE or PDE programme to enhance their teaching method in at all level of Schools.
The quality of education of a nation could be determined by the quality of her teachers. The most important factor in improving students' performance is by employing seasoned qualified teachers in all schools (Abe and Adu, 2013). Okuruwa (1999) found that, policy investment on quality of teachers is related to improvement in students' performance. Specifically, the measurement of teacher's preparation and certification are correlates of students' performance. It is further reported that, teacher's characteristics such as certification status and degree in area of specialization are very significant and positively correlated with students learning outcomes. This report was in line with the findings of Salman (2009).
Academically qualified teachers refer to those who have academic training as a result of enrolment into educational institution and obtained qualifications such as HND, B.Sc, B.A, and M.A. and so on; while professionally qualified teachers are those who got professional training that gave them professional knowledge, skills, techniques, aptitudes as different from the general education (Edu and Kalu, 2012). They hold degrees like, B.Ed., B.Sc. Ed, B.A. Ed, and M.Ed and so on. On the other hand, there are studies that have found no significant relationship between teacher educational qualification and students' academic performance. For instance, Igwe (1990) investigated the influence of teacher's qualification on academic performance of students in science subjects in Kano State. The researcher found no significant relationship between teacher's qualification and students' performance. While Adeniji (1999), Osokoya (1999) and Oladele (1999) found out that teacher's qualification contributed minimally to the variance with students' cognitive performance and Bilesanmi (1999) and Okonwa (1999) found that teacher's experience was highly significant on students' academic performance . Coonery (1990) opined that students do not understand some subject when it is being taught by an unqualified teacher. Izumi and Evess (2002) buttressed this by saying that teacher quality is the most important among other critical factors like quality curricula, funding, small class size and learning situation. George (2004) attributed poor performance of students to teacher qualification, inadequacy of materials as well as administrative factors.
Adesina (1982) and Fafunwa (1985) opined that with an exception of holders of minimum of B.Sc , many other teachers would be confronted with problem of teaching secondary school syllabus effectively. Hence, Lussa (1985) argued that no one gives what he/she does not possess. He further said that no matter how good a course curriculum is, if we do not have well trained, qualified and motivated teachers, we may not achieve the desired goals. In view of this, a teacher is someone who has been exposed to a good measure of training in a teaching subject area as well as in professional education: such professionally qualified teachers may according to the Federal Ministry of Education (2004) fall into a number of academic categories.
Mkpa (1987) regarded the trained teacher as someone who underwent and completed his education in a formal teacher training institution or in a planned programme of training. Among such areas of training may include principles and practice of education as well as being exposed to an observed period of internship either after or as part of the period of training. People who fall within this category should under normal circumstances be able to fulfill the various functions expected of teachers within and outside the four walls of the classroom. Furrugia (1987) perceived a professional teacher as one who possesses professionally based knowledge in the theory and practice of education as well as find job satisfaction in the belief that he/she is making an important contribution to the social, cultural and economic development of his/her country. Such a teacher should equally, be able to understand students' abilities to exploit educational benefits of the social context within which he/she lives. He/She should be able to assist Students to reach their full intellectual potentials.
According to Adieze (1986) non-qualified and non-professional teachers in teaching profession are killing the profession because they are not really teachers. He regarded them as "bird" of passage that create unnecessary vacuum whenever they see greener pasture and better prospect in the profession they are originally trained for. The comparison of students performance, test based on teachers' qualifications becomes necessary in order to know if formal teaching methods has any significant effect/influence on students' performance or not.
Poor academic performance has been observed in school among secondary school students (Adesemowo, 2005). Over the past decades, educational planners, policy makers and administrators all over the world have become increasingly concerned about the quality of education provided by the school system. They have come to realize that many meaningful improvements in the quality of education that students receive are highly dependent on the quality of teachers (Anderson, 1991). Studies carried out had indicated the need for teachers' academic qualification in their various teaching subjects. In an investigation, Etim (1985) found that teachers gained enough skills from a preparatory programme to enable them teach their subjects at any level of secondary school. This points to the need for appropriate training in the subject matter area of teachers so that their classroom instruction could be above board. Otuka (1987) found out misconceptions in students which they traced to misconceptions held by their teachers. Research also shows that teacher knowledge of specific subject matter, particularly at the secondary level is a good predictor of student achievement. Monk (1994) finds a strong correlation between teacher subject matter preparation and student success for both low and high scoring students, while Goldhaber & Brewer (2002) noted that students do better taught by a teacher with a bachelor's or master's degree . The professional needs of a teacher vary in relation to the stage he/she is in the profession. Teachers have different professional needs; hence the supports of an inexperienced teacher needs differ from that of a professional teacher. Supervision and coaching are critical elements of professional growth and development (Rockoff, 2004).
Teachers cannot be dissociated from the schools they teach and academic results of schools. It would therefore be logical to use the standardized students' assessments results as the basis for judging the performance of teachers. Teachers celebrate and are rewarded when their schools and teaching subjects are highly ranked. While appreciating the value of rewarding teachers who produce better results, teachers should also not escape a portion of blame when students perform poorly.It has been proved that teachers have an important influence on students' academic achievement. They play a crucial role in educational attainment because the teacher is ultimately responsible for translating policy into action and principles based on practice during interaction with the students (Afe, 2001). In their study, Wright, Horn and Sanders (1997) concluded that the most important factor influencing student learning is the teacher. Teachers stand at the interface of the transmission of knowledge, values and skills in the learning process. If the teacher is ineffective, students under the teacher's tutelage will achieve inadequate progress academically. This is regardless of how similar or different the students are in terms of individual potential in academic achievement.
According to Rivkin, Hanusheck and Kain (2005), there has never been a consensus on the specific teacher factors that influence students' academic achievement. Researchers have examined the influence of teacher characteristics such as gender, educational qualifications and teaching experience on students' academic achievement with varied findings. Akiri and Ugborugbo (2008) found that there was a significant relationship between teachers' gender and students' academic achievement. This is contrary to Dee cited in Akiri and Ugborugbo (2008). Yala and Wanjohi (2011) and Adeyemi (2010) found that teachers' experience and educational qualifications were the prime predictors of students' academic achievement. However, Ravkin et al (2005) found that teachers' teaching experience and educational qualifications were not significantly related to students' achievement. Etsy (2005) study in Ghana found that the teacher factors that significantly contributed to low academic achievement were incidences of lateness to school, absenteeism, and inability to complete the syllabi. Scholars have posited that various factors related to the teachers' characteristics such as their qualification, age, experience, and gender affect the academic performance of students in Science Technical Education and Mathematics (STEM) courses which Industrial Safety is a part of it.
Teaching and learning depends to a large extent on teacher's own knowledge of the content and ability to adequately deliver the instruction to the students. However a lot of variables may inhibit or hinder effective dissemination of knowledge to the understanding of the content by the students, such variables may be lack of qualified teachers, teachers' qualification, experience, inadequate use of instructional materials among others. While the present study sought to determine the effect of teachers' qualification on secondary school students' performance.
The major objective of this study is to investigate the impact of teacher qualification ,teachers gender and working experience as a corolate to students performance among selected secondary schools in Ado local government area.
What are the impact of teaching experience on students academic performance ?
Does instructional materials have impact on students academic performance ?
Does teachers genders affect students academic performance ?
There is no significant relationship between teachers' qualification and student academic performance .


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Between Utopia and Dystopia: Lessons from Sweden's Socialist History
by Fabian De Geer
Per Albin Hansson at a May Day rally in 1940
March 15, 2020. Seven minutes past midnight. Sleep seemingly failing me and being—like all millennials—a virtual slave of the digital age, I wearily reach over to my bedside table and guiltily grab my iPhone. Facial ID and boom: the world, quite literally, in the palm of my hand. But this is not an average night. Scrolling down my screen with that semi-automatic thumb flick, news outlet after news outlet declares, "Breaking News, Coronavirus: a Global Pandemic."
"Why are you still here?" That question followed me around for the days immediately following WHO's decision to label COVID-19 an international health emergency. "You're Swedish, go home. Everything there is better. Especially healthcare." Well sure, that may be true, but I would perhaps disagree with the statement that "everything is better" in my country.
This habit of labelling Scandinavian countries as a "socialist utopia" is not unique to times of pandemics, but quite ubiquitous amongst us millennials. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the conventional American conservative, who, judging by their rhetoric, have replaced their traditional Christian hell with Scandinavia and the innate horrors of socialism. These are two conflicting narratives; one cannot hold the absolute truth. Nor are they both entirely wrong. So, with Bernie Sanders bowing out of the presidential primary and the American right breathing an almost audible sigh of relief, it's worth taking a look at the details of socialism's influence on Swedish politics and society, to determine whether it is something to be revered or whether it should, indeed, be feared.
First things first, when and where did Swedish socialism start? This is a dissertation topic in itself, but I will spare the reader any unnecessary boredom and try to sum this up quickly. Since the 1750s, wealth inequality in Sweden had been steadily increasing, with the poorest peasants being particularly affected and the nobility reaping the vast majority of the country's wealth, while also retaining special privileges. As dawn broke over the 20th century, wealth inequality in the country reached new heights. It should therefore not come as a surprise that when the socialist activist August Palm delivered a speech where he, for the first time, expressed socialist sentiments, it resonated with Swedish workers.
In 1905, Swedish wealth and prestige hit another low, when the government was forced to give in to Norwegians' desire for independence, culminating in the dissolution of the personal union between the two countries under the Swedish monarchy. Around this time, wealth was becoming even more concentrated in the hands of a select few, and poorer individuals were making even less money.
At the same time, starting around 1907, the country suffered an economic crisis, with unemployment rising sharply and starvation becoming all the more commonplace. As a result, the socialist ideals originally espoused by August Palm gained the widespread mobilisation needed for his dream to become reality. Fearing state backlash, the leader of the Workers' Party, Hjalmar Branting, tried in vain to satiate the ever-growing impatience of the laborers. Their anger, however, erupted during May Day celebrations, when "down with the throne, the altar and nobility" echoed down the streets of the nation's villages and cities during country-wide protests.
And so, a series of events were initiated that would eventually make Sweden one of the most socially progressive countries in the world. In 1913, the state passed a law giving everyone above the age of 67 the right to a pension. In 1919, Swedes, for the first time, experienced something which had the semblance of universal suffrage. Ultimately, this led to the formation of Europe's first socialist government, led by Hjalmar Branting. With very brief interruptions, it would be 40 years before the Social Democratic Party lost power, making them the most successful political party in the modern democratic world.
Per Albin Hansson and "The People's Home"
In 1928, the then-leader of the Social Democrats, Per Albin Hansson, gave a speech that would shape the course of Swedish political history. He asked the people to compare Sweden to their homes. In a happy family, he said, there are no "favourites;" no distinction is made between "stepchildren," and the strong do not "prey upon the weak." A happy home is where equality, solidarity, cooperation, and kindness prevail. This is something he wanted to model Sweden after: a concept he called folkhemmet, meaning "the people's home."
Four years later, when Per Albin Hansson was elected Prime Minister, he immediately began to implement the vision of the Swedish home he had outlined in his speech. The idea was to compromise; Hansson wanted Sweden to be a place where the understandably frustrated working class could coexist with the more conservative aspects of society. A place where people did not judge each other based on their family background and where all citizens felt a sense of belonging to the state. To achieve this level of peaceful coexistence, not only did the old order have to accept radical alterations to societal and cultural structures in Sweden, but the working class and the revolutionaries had to equally accept a certain degree of status quo. The goal was a type of equality that aimed to reconcile the contradiction of maintaining a monarchical state with socialist elements. Royals, farmers, aristocrats, or academics—you were all siblings belonging to the same Swedish family.
Hjamlar Branting giving a speech in 1909. International Magazine Services Photo Archive
The legacy of folkhemmet
Contemporary Sweden is one of the countries in the world with the most equality between the genders. Even though Sweden lagged behind its Scandinavian neighbours, women did nonetheless gain the vote earlier than in most industrialised nations. Today, the women of this country enjoy generously paid maternity leave and extensive support networks, with paid state benefits for each child, regardless of their financial background. Furthermore, the current Swedish government led by the Social Democrats has decided to export these progressive policies to the international arena, making women's right central to their political creed, particularly in matters relating to diplomacy. Actively pursuing what they call "a feminist foreign policy," they place gender equality at the forefront of their diplomatic agenda, something Sweden is the first in the world to do. There is undoubtedly a long way to go before perfect equality is achieved. But, comparatively, Sweden has come a long way in the promotion of gender equality, both domestically and internationally.
Many of these policies stem from the legacy of folkhemmet originally espoused by Per Albin Hansson. The major breakthrough for women's rights occurred in the 1930s, coinciding with the launch of the reformist policies that Prime Minister Hansson thought were necessary to fulfill his dream of creating a Swedish home. During these years, almost alone in the industrialised world, the Swedish state implemented maintenance allowances, free maternity care, and medical checkups. They repealed a law banning contraceptives, replacing it with a law prohibiting the firing of women on the basis of marriage or pregnancy, and they also eased restrictions on abortion. By comparison, the United States did not ban discrimination based on gender until 1972. Although Hansson can not in any way be considered a feminist by contemporary standards, firmly declaring that women belonged as caretakers of the home, during the years he was in power women experienced an elevation of their societal status. This is because his government realised that the discriminatory policies holding back female rights would in the long run be damaging to the overall ambition of folkhemmet. As such, the foundation of Swedish contemporary feminist policies can be seen as having been laid as a result of the establishment of the welfare state in the early 1930s, as part of Per Albin Hansson's desire to realise the utopia he envisioned for his people.
Something which is also directly related to the days of Per Albin Hansson and his vision is the existence of Sweden's well-established safety nets. Because besides paving the way for women's rights, the idea of folkhemmet drove the Swedish government to implement no less than 30 monumental welfare reforms. These included insurance for the unemployed, financial benefits for the blind, universal healthcare, limited working hours for farmers, as well as state sponsored dental care and a guaranteed six-day holiday.
At the moment, COVID-19 is ravaging the US economy and upending people's lives, with one particularly grim prediction claiming that US unemployment will soar to 30%. In light of this, it is hard not to reflect upon how the lack of the very benefits implemented as part of the reform programs in Sweden during the 1930s is what is currently steering the United States toward an economic and societal catastrophe. This is not to say that Sweden is not feeling the impact of this deadly virus as well, but there is an argument to be made that the welfare state, which is so readily dismissed and feared by American conservatives, is the very thing that is shielding this Northern European region from the same fate currently faced by the United States.
A perfect Swedish home, but at what cost?
There is, however, a sinister chapter of Sweden's history often overlooked by those who lavish praise on the socialist success story of the 20th century. For instance, in 1935, the Swedish government used the idea of putting state before the individual to justify the passing of a law that made coerced sterilisation legal in cases of "mental illness, feeble-mindedness or other mental defects." The rationale behind this legislation, according to the appointed parliamentary commission, was that "sterilisation of the inferior human being is a justified measurement beneficial to the individual state." In other words, the argument was that people who suffered from certain mental disorders were a financial burden and thus should be prevented from procreating, in order to offset any future costs to the government. Shockingly, this is a policy that was implemented with a frightening consistency, for more than four decades. From 1935-1975, 62,888 people were forced into sterilisation by the Swedish state, 93% of them women.
Other people who were deemed inferior by the state were the Romani. Referred to collectively as the "Gypsy problem," they were denied many of the reforms enacted as part of folkhemmet during the 1930s. Between the 1920-1990s, the Swedish government expressed a desire to "free the people from the Romani plague," suggesting, in what is eerily reminiscent of laws in 1930s Germany, to forbid the Romani from marrying or having children with people of Swedish background. This, the government reasoned, would save the society the costs of having to care for people who were not their own. Instead, this would allow the state to focus on building the collective home they envisioned for Sweden and the people they deemed "Swedish enough" to belong to it.
Just as a person's upbringing affects his or her perceptions, values, and personality, so too does a state's history have an impact on the collective attitudes of societies. While the Swedish state has apologised profusely for the treatment of minorities and particularly the Romani, the exclusive nature of the "people's home" is still interwoven throughout the fabric of Swedish culture. Integration of individuals of foreign nationalities remains a problem to this day. This is most notable in the failure to integrate the nearly biblical flow of refugees the country received in the mid-2010s. A relatively recent report published by Amnesty International showed how, despite equal treatment under official law, Romani people still face significant discrimination by both the local population as well as police authorities.
However, it is not only a country's collective self-awareness that is impacted by its past, but its institutional infrastructure is as well. Just as a person has to adapt with his or her age, adjusting their rhetoric, updating their values, modernising their outlook, so too does a country need to step back and reflect on whether there is anything in their infrastructure that needs altering. With this, Sweden could do better. The large size of the state has provided many benefits, seen most starkly during the current COVID-19 pandemic, where the state's internationally controversial approach has been met with little to no domestic opposition. This is because of the social contract set up between the state and the people, which allows Swedes to have a remarkable amount of trust in their government's ability to handle emergencies.
Like many of Sweden's other traits, the development of this trust has a direct connection to the "people's home" and the idea of the state as a benevolent caretaker, always looking after its family's best interest. However, as a result, the public sector in Sweden has been growing for decades, and, because of the level of trust in government, there has never really been a revision of how much of it remains necessary. Even though Sweden is still ranked highly on the government effectiveness index, it has been falling in recent years. With no real incentive to turn a profit, many of the publicly owned sectors in Sweden employ far more people than necessary, rendering many services slower and much more inefficient than they should be. The repercussions of this can be seen in a recent report by OECD, which demonstrated that 28% of the employed Swedish population works for the public sector, far more than most other OECD countries. Maintaining a state of this size requires the state to implement heavy taxation, which, some argue, disincentivises companies from further expansion in the country.
Feared or revered?
I like to think of myself as a stepchild of the Swedish state. I was born and raised here, and the Swedish passport is the only travel document in my possession. But I have lived abroad for a large portion of my life. I have never really attended a Swedish-speaking school, nor have I had a Swedish-speaking job. As with any step-sibling with a semi-attachment to his or her greater family, this perspective gives you some degree of unique objectivity usually reserved for outsiders. As such, I do see the flaws of the Swedish model. Yet, at the same time, I am also excruciatingly aware of the hypocrisy surrounding the criticisms of it.
Socialist policies so feared in the United States have, in light of the coronavirus, suddenly come to be viewed as a necessary evil. This can be seen with the Trump administration's latest stimulus package, which includes a check of 1200 USD to each household. Similarly, universal healthcare coverage is being provided, albeit to an extremely limited degree, in the form of free tests and treatments for anyone diagnosed with COVID-19. Rest assured, the US government says, these are temporary measures. But one has to seriously question why this has to be the case. There are certainly aspects of Sweden's socialist history that would make even the most ardent Sanders supporter cringe. However, although the Swedish model is still highly flawed with much to criticise, at least there is a structure in place which is better positioned to deal with a crisis when it arrives. As the US might now realise, the financial, political, and human cost of rushing through legislation in the midst of an ongoing pandemic will probably heavily outweigh any of the purported benefits of resisting permanent implementation of such reforms.
Sweden is not heaven on earth. But neither is it hell. Americans should stop fearing Scandinavian socialism, just as much as unilateral reverence should be avoided. Instead of looking at the Swedish model as an alien construct and an unachievable dream (or nightmare), the United States should examine the present to figure out what works, just as much as they should understand Sweden's socialist past to learn what hasn't. Because, as has been made clear by the socialist undertones of the US government's recent stimulus package, there are clearly aspects of socialism that have been grudgingly accepted as necessary.


To coincide with International Day of Sports for Development and Peace (6th April 2019), Motivation is celebrating ten years of making sports more accessible for disabled people around the world.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and their Agitos Foundation were the first to suggest that Motivation could help more para-athletes from developing countries to compete in global and grassroots competitions. Using their years of experience designing wheelchairs for developing countries, we excitedly took up the challenge.
The popularity of the resulting wheelchairs led the IPC to return five years later with another request: for Motivation to design a racing wheelchair. It was launched at the London 2012 Paralympics.
Since then, Motivation sports wheelchairs have helped hundreds of thousands of disabled people to access sports – often for the first time. They are easy to use, adjust, maintain and designed to allow for varied seating positions, enabling athletes to tailor a mutli-use chair to their own sporting style.
Used in rehabilitation centres, sports clubs, schools and universities, as well as in international development programmes, each wheelchair might see 20 different users or more each week. No other sports wheelchair we've seen can cope with that level of prolonged use and multiple users.
The most recent wheelchair design, the Multisport, allows a person to use a single wheelchair for different sports: they can play tennis or cricket in the morning, then basketball or touch rugby in the afternoon. It is currently displayed at London's Design Museum.
Motivation has seen exactly how sport empowers children, families and communities while tackling prejudice and importantly, improving health and well-being. That's why the International Day of Sports for Development and Peace is the perfect time to celebrate all we've achieved since 2009.
By designing and producing sports wheelchairs that can be used by beginners and aspiring para-athletes alike, we are working towards a world where people with disability are included and fully participate in every aspect of life.
It makes me feel good! I now have more friends; I am better known; getting skilful and hope to play in the Paralympics! Disability is not an inability. If you are disabled you can still do something better in your life like I have done!
Here in the UK Motivation sports chairs serve a dual purpose. Sold to individuals and sports clubs through its social enterprise the profit from sales is fed back into Motivation's charitable work in East Africa and South Asia.
I had it assembled in a few minutes and out I went. It felt right from the start, I was out there flying along, well it felt like that to me anyway. Within a month I was taking part in my first 10k race, better yet I finished it. That was all I needed, I had been bitten by the bug. The next year I entered the Cardiff Bay 10K. I will never win a race, I'm not what you would call a spring chicken, but just being [involved] is fantastic. I don't know what life would be like without my Motivation chair, but I know it would not be as good.
As soon as I got my sports wheelchair, I tested it on the street outside. It was the fastest I'd ever gone! My Multisport is just brilliant – I use it on the playground and PE at school is much easier.
I've started playing basketball with my school friends… and now I've joined Warwickshire Bears wheelchair basketball club. I train every week!
Photos and case studies from around the world are available upon request.


Mining town - The Vault Fallout Wiki - Everything you need to know about Fallout 76, Fallout 4, New Vegas and more!
The mining town is a Chinese controlled area in the Anchorage Reclamation simulation in 2277.
This abandoned town is located northeast of the U.S. Army field headquarters. The Lone Wanderer traverses the edge of the the town on their way to the listening post. The gateway into the area is a derelict train yard, where two American soldiers are hiding. Once the Lone Wanderer closes in, McKinney peeks around the train car to find the sniper. He finds him and received a high powered bullet to the face as a reward (it is impossible to save him).
The area between the train yard and the listening post goes through Chinese fortifications and bombed-out buildings. The first bunker beyond the train yard has to be stormed on foot and is manned by Chinese troops and a group of guard dogs. An American captive with a health and ammo dispenser can be found next to a fire in the first building destroyed. Northwest of the collapsed structure is an intel suitcase.
Once the Lone Wanderer secures the bunker and reaches the bombed out building, they will return to ground level, on the other side of the barbed wire. The path to the post goes through another part of the ruined train depot. The largest structure has four Crimson Dragoons with sniper rifles standing watch.
Once the train depot is cleared, the listening post is a short trek away past numerous Chinese soldiers.
An intel suitcase is found in the northwest part of the first bombed out building, on some crates.
The mining town appears only in the Fallout 3 add-on Operation: Anchorage.
This page was last edited on 14 June 2017, at 22:07.


Our skin needs moisture to help with healing, prolong wrinkle-free skin and to look healthy. But what's the best way to provide moisture to the skin while being kind to the environment?
dry skin- and the beeswax helps the skin to retain the moisture.
heaven for dry skin. The use of jasmine and coconut oils makes your skin smell incredible too.
and patchouli, this is perfect for you.
reduce bad body odour and help as a natural antibacterial too.
Pop over to our online store and make a positive change to your life and the environment.


While reducing muzzle climb, it also reduces flash signature compared to most compensators. Lastly the Battlecomp reduces felt recoil , and produces less downward concussion than the standard A2 flash hider for a smaller dust signature when shooting prone.
BattleComps are classified as compensators, NOT flash hiders. They have many happy customers in NJ, NY, MA, CT and even California. This is one of the top muzzle devices you can own!
Made from 17-4PH heat treated stainless steel bar stock and finished only in 13924D Black Oxide coating, the BattleComp 1.0 fits all barrels with 1/2 x 28 RH standard threads. Crush washer included.
The BC1.0 also works with 5.45x39 caliber, if the barrel is threaded 1/2 x 28 RH.


I checked the site statistics that Sandra counts up each night.
At the end of May 2013, there were about 1,495,000 pictures (306 gigabytes), 431 gigabytes of video, 14620 text files (mostly stories) and a total of about 739 gigabytes. There's about 590 million pictures altogether in Newsthumbs, increasing at about 5 million per month.


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Potakówka – wieś w Polsce położona w województwie podkarpackim, w powiecie jasielskim, w gminie Tarnowiec.

W latach 1975–1998 miejscowość administracyjnie należała do województwa krośnieńskiego.

Wierni kościoła rzymskokatolickiego należą do parafii Narodzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny w Tarnowcu, w dekanacie Jasło Wschód, diecezji rzeszowskiej.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne

 Gmina Tarnowiec – sołectwo Potakówka

Tarnowiec (gmina)
Wsie w powiecie jasielskim


Andrea and John were married on October 27th, 2018 at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania. The church already had a natural beauty so we only added a few floral arrangements. We added a couple of light blue hydrangea arrangements to some of the aisles in the church. We also provided two tall, arrangements at the front of the alter that matched the bridal bouquets perfectly.
We especially loved the opportunity to create the bride's and bridal parties bouquets. It consisted of orange, yellow, purples and greens to create that perfect fall feel. The groom and groomsmen wore vibrant orange and yellow boutonnières. Other wedding attire we truly enjoyed were the colorful socks the groomsmen wore, as well as the custom, sparkly high top tennis shoes for the bride.
After the ceremony, Andrea and John headed to their reception at The Inn at Villanova University in Radnor, PA. It was a beautiful hall that was filled with long rectangle guest tables and wood bamboo chiavari chairs. The head table was decorated with a beautiful floral runner while the guest tables had a large sitting centerpiece to match the bridal parties bouquets. To add to that "Fall/Halloween" theme the bride included decorative pumpkins, skeletons and lots of Halloween candy for guests to enjoy.
Overall Andrea and John's wedding was the perfect mix between a fun and elegant fall themed wedding. We loved being apart of their big day and wish them the absolute best in their marriage.
Photography by Beau Monde Originals (www.beaumondeoriginals.com) and floral by yours truly @eleganteventsflorist.


Beat the summer heat with this Aloha Sunset Wine Cocktail. This wine cocktail has a hints of the tropics and is a refreshing way to enjoy summer.
Nothing says summer like this Aloha Sunset Wine Cocktail. It has a hints of the tropics and is a refreshing way to beat the summer heat. You all know that I love a glass of good wine, and when the temperature starts creeping up, a cool glass of a crisp Sauvignon Blanc calls out to me. Sauvignon Blanc has tropical fruit notes which assist in putting the Aloha in this Aloha Sunset Wine Cocktail.
So, gather your friends together, grab a glass filled with ice and pour these Aloha Sunset Wine Cocktails and enjoy!
Here is my Aloha Sunset Wine Cocktail Recipe, be sure to Print It and Pin It so that you can make it again and again.
I hope you enjoy these Aloha Sunset Wine Cocktails as much as my friends and I do!
I used LEAF Vodka in this wine cocktail recipe because well, simply put…is it amazing vodka.
Distributed by Global Spirits USA, one of the industry's leading international vodka producers, LEAF Vodka (which is Certified USDA Organic) is sourced from two unique American waters. These water sources give LEAF Vodkas their signature tastes. LEAF Vodka made from Alaskan Glacial Water has a pure, smooth taste with a hint of sweetness while LEAF Vodka made from Rocky Mountain Mineral Water offers richness and complexity, lending a warm and savory impression on the palate.
While this post is sponsored, my opinions, recipe and love for this wine cocktail are my own.
Learn more about LEAF Vodka by checking them out online and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
What is one of our favorite Summer Cocktail Recipes? Hopefully you will soon be adding this Aloha Sunset Cocktail to that list soon!
This sounds great! Almost like a sangria with the fruit juices. I'm going to save this recipe and try it when we have company.
Yummy! This would make me feel like I was on a tropical vacation. Pinning for future reference!
I LOVE making cocktails with wine because it feels like spiking an already spiked punch! LOL. And this one, I tried it – and it was so yummy. I could drink these all night. So good!
My mom would probably like this drink!
I love the sound of this cocktail! We will be making this on the weekend, or maybe a bit before. Thanks for a great cocktail recipe.
This sounds delicious and I love the name. Thanks for posting!
You're welcome – I hope you enjoy it this summer and beyond!
This sounds delicious and refreshing.
this sounds yummy, i pinned for later, thanks!
This looks so refreshing! I love adding juice into my wine, never thought of adding vodka too!
This sounds nice and refreshing. WIll be trying this out this summer.
Sounds simple enough… would love to trying a glass or 10..


Summary: SHOWTIME CONVERSIONS IS RECALLING 3 Model Years 2001 AND 2002 SHOWHAULER MOTORHOMES EQUIPPED WITH NORCOLD MODEL 1200LRIM REFRIGERATORS, MANUFACTURED FROM MARCH 1, 2001 TO DECEMBER 31, 2002, WITH SERIAL NUMBERS BETWEEN 1273701 AND 1536607, NON-CONSECUTIVELY. A FATIGUE FAILURE IN THE SECTION OF THE COOLING UNIT WHICH CONTAINS THE REFRIGERANT COULD ALLOW THE LIQUID SOLUTION TO SLOWLY LEAK. IF A LEAK OCCURS AND THE REFRIGERATOR CONTINUES TO BE OPERATED AFTER SOLUTION CIRCULATION HAS CEASED THE HEAT SOURCE COULD GENERATE VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES. AT SUCH HIGH TEMPERATURES, THE COOLING UNIT COULD RUPTURE.
Consequence: IF A LEAK OCCURS AND THE UNIT IS CONTINUES TO OPERATE, HYDROGEN GAS MAY BE EXPELLED AND CAN BE IGNITED, RESULTING IN A FIRE, POSSIBLY CAUSING SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.
Remedy: SHOWTIME WILL NOTIFY OWNERS AND THE VEHICLE'S REFRIGERATOR WILL BE REPAIRED.
If you've got a lemon motorhome, don't take a chance. Get a Burdge attorney. Getting rid of lemon Rv's is what we do. Every day. Since 1978.
Because life's too short to put up with a lemon motorcoach.


In conjunction with a major building development, designwell were commissioned to design two courtyards in the dementia-specific area that would re-invigorate the residents' connection to nature, improve their sense of well being and enhance their quality of life.
Our landscape solutions provide opportunities to make choices, seek privacy and experience a sense of control in a variety of outdoor spaces. The gardens aim to engage residents through stimulating their senses and offering a variety of passive and active spaces for a wide range of activities.
It was important to remove physical, cultural and psychological barriers which often inhibit the use of aged care landscapes, especially with regards to access, safety and fear of the unknown.


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Idea Factory/JRPG/Reviews
Review: Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters (Sony PlayStation 5)
With sisters like these, who needs enemies?
I don't really understand why Idea Factory continues to experiment with action combat systems. Action combat systems are far more resource intensive to get right, and for a company producing JRPGs on a very small budget, it seems counterintuitive. Recent Neptunia titles, including Neptunia Virtual Stars and Cyberdimension Neptunia, have really suffered for it. Those games were fine in their own way, but not pushing to the upper echelons of the genre like the turn-based JRPGs did Unfortunately, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is much the same situation. At least, as far as the combat goes. Thankfully the narrative is a blistering return to form for the series.
Related reading: For a turn-based Neptunia you can star right at the start with Neptunia ReVerse. Our review.
It's truly strange that they would take the action-JRPG route with Sisters VS Sisters in particular, because the last time that Nepgear (the little sister of the series' protagonist, Neptune) was the nominal lead in a game, it was the second Hyperdimension Neptunia (mk2) and that, to me, remains the most enjoyable game in the entire series. It stands out precisely because Idea Factory got so much right with the turn-based combat system. It wasn't overly complex, didn't get bogged down in systems, and simply played out like a nice, clean, classical turn-based JRPG. Sisters VS Sisters, meanwhile, is a clunky mess in combat. Combos rapidly devolve into clumsy button-mashing affairs, and the AI is barely functional (in terms of both the enemies and the assistance). Perhaps most significantly, the defensive options are severely limited, given the extreme delay between pressing the button, and either raising shields or dodging. This is an even bigger problem when you consider that enemy attacks can trap characters in damage combos. A group of three or four common enemies can be more devastating than the toughest of bosses for this reason.
Idea Factory, please listen here: there isn't a single person in your audience that has an issue with the classical approach to JRPG combat. You're only ever going to appeal to the most niche of JRPG audiences, and I assure you, they have no problem with turn-based action. The likes of Persona, SMT, Atelier, Fire Emblem and others continue to be perfectly comfortable leveraging a turn-based system because their developers understand that. The developers of One Piece Odyssey from earlier in the year also realised that a turn-based system was a clever way to mask budgetary limitations. It works. People enjoy it. You're only letting yourselves down (badly) by struggling to push out these action games instead.
It's particularly frustrating when you consider that outside of the combat, Sisters VS Sisters is a spot-on return to message and form for the series. Initially, Neptunia was designed as a satire of the dynamics of the video game industry. The characters were all based on popular console manufacturers or game developers, and they'd have their "console wars" and battle as gods over "shares" to dominate the world and win the love of all the common people. Underneath that was always some surprisingly scathing humour at the expense of nerd culture and various key fan trends. I say "surprisingly" because there has always been the risk that these otaku fandoms wake up and realise that they're the target of the joke and subsequently walk away from the series. Thankfully for Idea Factory, so far they have seemed to be happy to roll with the punches. You'd have to assume that's because the hyperactive characters at the core of the series deliver the humour with such high energy that it ends up being charming.
Some of the more recent entries, however, seem to have lost sight of that successful core. Instead, they seemed like efforts to build characters up as distinct entities from the anthropomorphised video game industry punchlines. The wildly in-your-face humour was always there, but the broader scope of the characterisation had left the series in danger of becoming unfocused and losing something that, brash and often crass as it was, gave it an intelligent edge to engage with.
Sisters VS Sisters brings the storytelling right back to the series' roots, and is stronger for it. This time around the girls face an all-new threat: mobile gaming. Communities are so glued to their phones playing those games that they've got no time for their goddesses (consoles) any more. Throw in some jokes about shut-ins, and the mindless obsession with content that runs through this industry, and you've got a game that, again, works both as humour and a commentary. "It's a busy world. You gotta consume as much content as you possibly can, right?" quips one character at one point, and I tell you what, it's nice that the criticism I've been levelling at this industry for years now has been validated. At least some people are paying attention to what's going on out there.
Sisters VS Sisters' narrative isn't without flaws, though. For one thing, mobile gaming isn't really seen as a particular concern to the traditional gaming industry as it was a few years ago. Indeed, there's an increasing joining of the two (such as your ability to play Xbox Game Pass on mobile devices), which means that right out of the gate, the script comes across as being a little behind trend. Surely, now, the enemy should be subscription services and the way that they drive game developers to target safe, mainstream projects that are padded out to run for far too long (the polar opposite of Sisters VS Sisters itself, in other words). I should however note that there are some twists and turns along the way, and the game does make some astute observations about what is going on right here and right now. In particular, it cleverly parodies the role that influencers and AIs play in modern otaku culture. There's also a strong social commentary to the role that the in-game "rPhone" plays in society that is spot-on. As several of the characters note, people have become so hooked on their phone screens that they rarely look up from it now, that's a net negative to our communities. So overall the commentary is poignant and up there with some of the series' sharpest, even if you do have to sit through a fairly slow introduction to start getting to the meaningful insights.
Related reading: The Neptunia and Senran Kagura crossover game was a lot of fun too. Check out our review here.
As always there are some new characters to meet and make friends with. The major two in Sisters VS Sisters are characters based on the Higurashi visual novel behemoth and the Touhou series. I'm not sure what possessed Idea Factory to turn these specific properties into characters, other than they're iconic to the PC platform and provided a useful way to represent the PC market, which plays a critical role in the game world for the first time with Sisters VS Sisters. I would have thought that Idea Factory would have gone with representations of Valve or NVIDIA, but no. It doesn't matter, though. These two are fun, and there are some solid references in there if you're a fan of either.
Finally, I should say that outside of combat, Sisters VS Sisters is very pleasant to play. The maps are massive this time around, and while they're a bit repetitive in terms of how they're designed, it is nice to get a bigger slice of the world to explore. As always, the aesthetics border on the garish, but the vibrant energy that emanates from every corner of the world is what gives it its unique appeal. Enemy designs are, as always for the series, a clever blend of parody and homage to iconic characters and monsters from the history of video games. They're consistently highlights, and always good for a laugh the first time you come across them.
The action combat system in Sisters VS Sisters is a disappointment, and while it's not so bad that it will prevent you from finishing the game, it is incredible that the developers at Idea Factory don't just stick to a turn-based system where they are able to deliver a something of a much higher standard. However, combat has always been the secondary consideration with this series, and Sisters VS Sisters is in many ways a return to form in everything that matters to it. The satire is sharp and relevant. The characters are entertaining and endearing, and despite the sheer number of Neptunia games that have been released by now, Sisters VS Sisters finds a way to meaningfully contribute to and build on what has come before.
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