Yes, the traditional green lawn is an iconic part of every suburban home. But with water becoming an increasingly scarce resource, this is no longer a sustainable option. This is why many homeowners and landscaping companies are turning to this one trend that’s not only environmentally friendly but also incredibly easy to maintain: xeriscaping.

What Is Xeriscaping?

The idea behind xeriscaping is simple: to create a landscape that requires little to no irrigation. This means using native plants that are likely to already be acclimated to the climate and soil of your region. For example, here in Vancouver, a xeriscape could include Douglas firs and western red cedars.

Not only does this reduce the amount of water your landscape will need, but it also eliminates the need for pesticides and fertilizers. This is because native plants are already adapted to their environment and don’t require extra chemicals to thrive.

 A Brief History Lesson

The first known use of the word “xeriscaping” was in 1981 in Colorado. Denver Water coined the term by marrying the Greek word “xeros” meaning dry with “landscaping.” Xeriscaping became popular in the western and southwestern United States as a solution to water shortages. The practice slowly made its way up to Canada where it has been gaining popularity in recent years.

Hyland Landscapes-xeriscaping-a-sustainable-new-trend-in-landscaping-1

Besides being about water conservation, xeriscaping is also a type of landscaping that follows principles. These principles define the boundaries of what xeriscaping is and how a landscaping company can help you achieve it for your Vancouver garden.

1) Lawn Management

A big part of any landscaping project, but especially a xeriscape one, is how you take care of your lawn. Whenever possible, you should reduce or eliminate your lawn area. This is because lawns are extremely high maintenance, and require a lot of water and chemicals to stay healthy. Not only that, but they’re also one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.

If you do have a lawn, make sure it’s healthy and drought-resistant. This means regularly aerating and fertilizing it, and using the right type of grass seed for your climate. You should also consider installing an irrigation system, so you can water your lawn more efficiently.

There are multiple eco-friendly lawn designs that a landscaping company like Hyland Landscapes can offer. One such design is a meadow lawn, which is low-maintenance and looks natural. It’s perfect for Calgary gardens since it doesn’t require as much water or upkeep.

2) Picking The Right Plants

When it comes to plants, there are two main things to consider: their water needs and their hardiness. When choosing plants for your xeriscape garden, make sure to pick ones that are drought-resistant and don’t require a lot of water. Some good examples include cacti, succulents, and sedums.

It’s also important to choose plants that are native to Vancouver, as they’re already adapted to our climate and will require less water. Some examples of native plants include goatsbeard, common elderberry shrubs, and sword ferns.

When it comes to hardiness, you should choose plants that can withstand our cold winters and hot summers. This way, they won’t require as much care or water to stay alive.

3) Mulching

Mulch is a layer of material (usually organic) that you put on top of your soil and is a great way to conserve water and keep your plants healthy. Mulching helps to prevent evaporation, which means that your plants will need less water. It also helps to keep the roots of your plants cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

There are two main types of mulch: inorganic and organic. Inorganic mulches include things like gravel or stones, while organic mulches are made from things like wood chips or bark. Both types of mulch have their own benefits.

  • Inorganic mulches last longer because they don’t break down as organic mulches do. This means that you won’t have to replace them as often. They also don’t attract pests and animals as organic mulches can.
  • Organic mulches help improve the quality of your soil as they break down. They also provide nutrients for your plants and can help to suppress weeds.

The type of mulch you choose will depend on your landscape and what you’re trying to achieve. If you want a mulch that will last longer, then an inorganic mulch is a good choice. If you’re looking for a mulch that will improve the quality of your soil, then an organic mulch is a better option.

4) Grading

An important aspect of Xeriscaping is grading your land. This means making sure that your land slopes away from your house so that water doesn’t pool near the foundation and cause problems. Grading also helps to prevent erosion, which can damage your plants and landscape.

Expert landscape artists can help you grade your land properly and make sure that it slopes away from your house. This is an important step in Xeriscaping and should be done before you plant anything.

If you have a small yard, then you might not need to grade your land. In this case, you can just create raised beds for your plants. This will help to prevent water from pooling near your house and will also help with drainage.

5) Efficient Irrigation

A well-designed irrigation system is an important part of Xeriscaping. An irrigation system can help you save water by delivering it directly to your plants’ roots. This means that your plants will get the water they need without any wastage.

There are many different types of irrigation systems, so it’s important to choose one that’s right for your landscape. Some systems are better for small yards, while others are better for large landscapes. You should also consider the type of plants you have and how often they need to be watered.

If you have a small yard, then a drip irrigation system might be a good choice. This system delivers water directly to your plant’s roots through a series of small holes. This means that there is very little water wastage and your plants will get the moisture they need.

If you have a large landscape, then a sprinkler system might be a better option. This system delivers water to your plants through a series of sprinklers. You can adjust the amount of water that’s delivered to your plants depending on their needs.

6) Landscape Maintenance

Once you’ve Xeriscaped your yard, it’s important to maintain it. This means keeping an eye on your plants and making sure they’re getting enough water. It also means trimming your plants and removing any dead leaves or branches.

Maintaining your Xeriscape garden is relatively easy and doesn’t require a lot of time or effort. However, it’s important to do it regularly so that your garden stays healthy and looks its best.

If you don’t have the time or energy to maintain your Xeriscape garden, then you can hire a professional landscape company to do it for you. This is a great option if you want to make sure that your garden is always looking its best.

 Seasonal landscaping services, like leaf removal and snow shoveling, are ideal for Xeriscaping because they help keep your plants healthy and your landscape looking great.

Winter Xeriscaping

In Vancouver where it snows a lot, is xeriscaping a good landscaping option?

Yes, you can xeriscape during the winter. It’s easy to think that xeriscaping can only work in dry, desert-like climates. However, xeriscaping can be adapted to any climate. In fact, winter xeriscaping can actually save you money on your water bill. This is because most plants go dormant in the winter and don’t need as much water.

Choosing Plants and Landscaping

While cacti and succulents are often the “go-to” choice with xeriscaping, there are many other types of plants that can be used. These can include trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals. When choosing plants for your xeriscape, it is important to consider their water needs. You should also choose plants that are native to your area. This is because they will be more adapted to the climate and require less water.

In Canada, plants like blue fescue, sedum, yarrow, and lavender are good choices for xeriscaping. Hiring a design build firm like Hyland Landscapes can ensure that these plants are properly installed and will thrive in your landscape.

Sustainable Landscape Artists

When it comes to xeriscaping, one size does not fit all. Each landscape is unique and has different needs. This is why it is important to hire a team of sustainable landscape artists who can create a custom design for your space.

At Hyland Landscapes, we take the time to get to know your landscape and design a plan that will work for you. We also offer maintenance services to keep your xeriscape looking its best. For more information about our sustainable landscape services or to learn more about our company, contact us today!


Day 8: Ecological Conversion

Our society, driven by a “throwaway culture,” discards not only things but people as “leftovers,” whether it is the poor and vulnerable who suffer most from climate change or indigenous peoples who have been displaced from their lands or seen their water contaminated due to an economic system that prioritizes profit over people and the common good.

Day 7: The Immigrant’s Prayer

Do not let us forget who we are, where we come from, and how we got here. Do not let us, Lord, forget you.

Day 6: A Culture of Care

The Pope’s call to practice social and political love and today’s Gospel go to the heart and soul of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.


God won't? Or God can't?

A few people had asked what I meant when I said it is always God's will to heal. If it's always God's will to heal, why do people not always get well? The

I Didn't Dupe You

I recently heard that a few folks at my former church in Iowa felt like I duped them. The claim is that for the ten years I pastored at Good News Community Church,

Thoughts on Pride 2022

For the first time this June, The Table Church marched in Washington, DC's Pride Parade. My family and I marched alongside our LGBTQ church family and allies. It was an incredibly moving experience,

Efforts to dehumanize others...

Efforts to dehumanize others (through sexism, patriarchy, slavery, greed) existed before Christianity and exist where Christianity isn’t around to weaponize for their purposes. Yes, Christianity has been used to prop up these


Crystal glass bottle 10 processes

People often use crystal to describe beautiful mind, indeed, delicate and beautiful crystal glass bottle not only looks glittering and translucent get rid of appears, the quality also is better than ordinary glass bottle, consequently be deeply loved by consumer.
So how are these crystal glass bottles made?
In this small circle of packaging and we share the processing of crystal glass bottles.

(1) Cutting: it is to cut the shape and size of the whole material with a large saw blade at high speed.
(2) Blanking: the mold is used to make the size and shape of the finished product, and then the raw material is melted at a high temperature to over 900℃, and then poured into the mold for die-casting.
(3) Rough polishing: is the mold pressed out of the blank, with diamond disc directly grinding the finished product line.
(4) Fine polishing: after the rough polishing, polishing powder to grind the finished product to the crystal clear so far.
(5) Drilling: according to the required size and position of drilling before the completion of crystal products, drilling is processed with a bit, such as TAB pieces, pen containers, bottle holes, etc.
6. Screen printing: the crystal surface with different colors for effect treatment, the color layer is thicker, the force can be off.
, color plating: use similar electroplating techniques in the crystal surface with different colors, the layer is thinner, friction can scratch, scratch, because of the color often located at the bottom, so in the bottom of color plating often use other objects attached, such as the health of Xiao Wenzhen.
, carving: three-dimensional sense of strong, high technology, fine workmanship, high cost.
Divided into hand carving graphics, machine carving text.
Pet-type, sand blasting: the three-dimensional sense is weak, relatively flat, no gravure convex feeling, machine engraving characters, graphics and other effects.
Ben does it fast.
, laser carving: computer aided laser equipment in the crystal object to carry out three-dimensional pattern molding, artistic effect is good, can arbitrarily express all kinds of patterns, graphics, achieve lifelike effect.

After a series of processing, just make the original ordinary glass bottle wear crystal coat, suddenly become a noble crystal princess.

Post time: Oct-30-2020


"S&P 500 to 4,800 by the end of 2022"

Can You believe this will happen? Let us see what experts like JpMorgaon has to say!

According to JPMorgan S&P 500 to 4,800 by the end of 2022

There are uncertanities in the market but JPmorgan has it reputation!

With the benchmark index currently sitting at around 4,100, JPMorgan’s target predicts a potential upside of 16%.

Kolanovic says that the S&P 500 “is on the cusp of breaking important momentum signals” such as the 200-day moving average.

The 200 day moving average is cosidered a very powerful signal by trader and trades are maanged accordingly.

In recent months,  the S&P 500 has largely traded below its 200-day moving average. Also we saw many solid break downs and red candles!

Do let us know your thoughts on this!  Please do share with your friends if you found this story helpful!


The Best Mining Equipment Used in the Mining Industry

When working in the mining industry, it’s only right that workers are equipped with the tools needed to do their jobs properly. In this article, we will discuss the necessary mining equipment to ensure the efficient performance of daily mining tasks.

Without the proper tools, time and efficiency will be sacrificed, decreasing the production of work. There are specific tools that are needed to mine the precious rocks lodged underground or under the sea.

Mining Equipment: Earth Shakers

A tool called the earthmover is needed to ensure that waste and other debris don’t build-up on the construction site. The heavy machinery is a staple in the mining industry and works in correlation with a bulldozer to move soil from one place to another in large masses.

After the debris has been removed from the work site, it allows miners to extract minerals without having added issues. Once the earth-shaker has completed it’s part of the job, other machinery can move onto the site and get to work on performing their jobs.

Mining Drill Equipment

Having access to a drilling device is essential when working underground to extract precious materials. When minerals and other rocks are trapped deep below the ground, drills need to be utilized to bring them to the surface.

The specific job carried out by the drills is to shake loose the material that is encasing the minerals and make it easier to remove the mineral from the surrounding rock. The drills use a series of charges that create the effect that loosens the area.

Another reason why a drill is a useful tool is that it is used to create a hole for miners to travel underground to mine. If the gap is not big enough for workers to pass through, it can prove problematic as work gets underway. Workers won’t be able to pass from the surface into the ground, and excavating mined minerals will be challenging to bring to the surface.

Crushing Machinery

Crushing equipment is used to break down rocks and make it easier to move from one place to another. If the rock and gravel aren’t broken down, it could cause a build-up of waste because it would be challenging to move large pieces of material.

Depending on the operation, there are different ways that the waste is brought to the crushing equipment. If the work is being done underground, a conveyer belt will deliver the material that needs to be crushed to the crusher.

Various haul trucks will pick up and transport the material to the crusher if the work is being done above ground.

Crushing equipment helps reduce the amount of equipment that is needed on-site, which can help a company cut unnecessary costs by having only a few pieces of machinery on-site during the project.

Weight feeders

A weight feeder is a piece of equipment that is used to deliver materials to other machines to be disposed of. The weight feeder ensures that the mining site is kept free of materials that could make getting the job done more challenging to complete.

Without the use of weight feeders and other conveying equipment, there is no control over what flows in and out of the mining area.

Ensure that the belt is kept lubricated so that it continues working well. If the belt isn’t lubricated, it can cause a backlog of traffic holding up the mining job.

Do You Have Your Tools?

When a list of equipment is being made that is needed on-site, the equipment listed above must be present during work hours. It will make the production of work run smoother than if the equipment wasn’t on site.

Check out the products offered on our site if you’re looking for reliable and durable equipment. If you’ve got any questions about products on our site, contact us at any time.

Posted in Industrial Equipment.


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How Many Feet Are In A Mile?

Feet and miles are both units of measurement used to determine distance.

However, a foot is a relatively small distance, while a mile is quite large.

Luckily, once you know how many feet are in 1 mile, it can be quite easy to figure out how many feet are in any number of miles using a simple equation.

There are exactly 5,280 feet in 1 mile. This means that, if we want to know how many feet are in any given number of miles, we only need to multiply the number of miles by 5,280.

For example, if we want to know how many feet are in 5 miles, we would need to multiply 5,280 by 5. The answer is 26,400, which tells us that there are 26,400 feet in 5 miles.

If we want to reverse the equation to find out how many miles we can make out of a certain number of feet, we simply need to divide by 5,280 instead.

For example, if we have 32,000 feet, we can divide that number by 5,280 to get an answer of about 6.06. This tells us that there are just over 6 miles in 32,000 feet.

If you don’t want to do the math, or you need to convert quickly, you can also use our conversion calculator or conversion chart below to find out how many feet are in a particular number of miles.

Miles to Feet conversion calculator

Miles to Feet conversion table

Feet and miles are both part of the imperial system, which is mainly used in the United States.

The foot measurement is based on the actual measurement of a human foot, which is where the name comes from.

In ancient times, the size of a foot was often used to estimate length, and this measurement was eventually standardized. Today, 1 foot is equal to 12 inches.

The measurement of a mile came from ancient Rome.

In those times, a mile, which was known as a mille passus, was considered to be 1,000 paces, which was equal to 5,000 Roman feet.

Later, this was standardized to 8 furlongs. Today, a furlong is still considered to be 1/8 of a mile, and the mile itself has been standardized to 5,280 feet.

A mile is also equal to 1,760 yards. One yard is equal to 3 feet.

You can also convert miles to kilometers.

One mile is equal to about 1.61 kilometers, so you’ll only need to multiply or divide by 1.61 to figure out how many kilometers are in a number of miles.

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October 7, 2022

Music Arts

Spearheading Arts Excellence

Monarch butterfly population moves nearer to extinction

3 min read

SAN FRANCISCO — The quantity of western monarch butterflies wintering along the California coast has plummeted precipitously to a record minimal, placing the orange-and-black insects closer to extinction, scientists declared Tuesday.

An yearly wintertime depend by the Xerces Modern society recorded much less than 2,000 butterflies, a massive decline from the tens of thousands tallied in the latest a long time and the hundreds of thousands that clustered in trees from Northern California’s Marin County to San Diego County in the south in the 1980s.

Western monarch butterflies head south from the Pacific Northwest to California just about every wintertime, returning to the similar destinations and even the exact same trees, the place they cluster to hold warm. The monarchs usually arrive in California at the starting of November and spread throughout the country when hotter weather conditions arrives in March.

On the jap facet of the Rocky Mountains, one more monarch inhabitants travels from southern Canada and the northeastern United States across 1000’s of miles to shell out the winter season in central Mexico. Researchers estimate the monarch populace in the japanese US has fallen about 80 per cent due to the fact the mid-1990s, but the drop-off in the western US has been even steeper.

An annual winter count by the Xerces Society recorded fewer than 2,000 butterflies, a massive decline from the tens of thousands tallied in recent years and millions in the 1980s.
An yearly winter depend by the Xerces Culture recorded fewer than 2,000 butterflies, a large decline from the tens of thousands tallied in modern a long time and millions in the 1980s.

The Xerces Culture, a nonprofit environmental corporation that focuses on the conservation of invertebrates, recorded about 29,000 butterflies in its once-a-year survey previous winter season. That was not significantly unique than the tally the wintertime prior to, when an all-time minimal of 27,000 monarchs were counted.

But the rely this yr is dismal. At iconic monarch wintering web-sites in the town of Pacific Grove, volunteers didn’t see a solitary butterfly this winter season. Other well-regarded destinations, these as Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove and Normal Bridges Condition Park, only hosted a handful of hundred butterflies, researchers stated.

“These internet sites typically host thousands of butterflies and their absence this year was heartbreaking for volunteers and site visitors flocking to these locales hoping to capture a glimpse of the awe-inspiring clusters of monarch butterflies,” mentioned Sarina Jepsen, director of endangered species at the Xerces Society.

Scientists say the butterflies are at critically lower amounts in western states due to the fact of destruction to their milkweed habitat together their migratory route as housing expands into their territory and use of pesticides and herbicides increases.

Researchers also have pointed out the outcome of local weather modify. Along with farming, climate improve is just one of the primary motorists of the monarch’s threatened extinction, disrupting an yearly 3,000-mile (4,828-kilometer) migration synched to springtime and the blossoming of wildflowers. Substantial wildfires throughout the US West last yr may have motivated their breeding and migration, researchers explained.

A 2017 review by Washington State University researchers predicted that if the monarch inhabitants dropped under 30,000, the species would very likely go extinct in the subsequent handful of many years if absolutely nothing is accomplished to save them.

Monarch butterflies lack point out and federal legal protection to keep their habitat from currently being destroyed or degraded. In December, federal officers declared the monarch butterfly “a candidate” for threatened or endangered status but stated no action would be taken for many many years because of the a lot of other species awaiting that designation.

The Xerces Culture reported it will hold pursuing security for the monarch and perform with a extensive selection of partners “to employ science-dependent conservation actions urgently wanted to support the iconic and beloved western monarch butterfly migration.”

Individuals can aid the colorful insects by planting early-blooming flowers and milkweed to gasoline migrating monarchs on their paths to other states, the Xerces Modern society mentioned.

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What is the plot of the story The Life of Pi?

What is the plot of the story The Life of Pi?

Life Of Pi/Film synopsis

How is Life of Pi a story within a story?

Life of Pi is a story within a story within a story. The novel is framed by a (fictional) note from the author, Yann Martel, who describes how he first came to hear the fantastic tale of Piscine Molitor Patel. Pi, however, is not a liar: to him, the various versions of his story each contain a different kind of truth.

What is the narrative structure of Life of Pi?

In Life of Pi, Yann Martel creates a protagonist, Pi, who narrates his story in the first person, but he also creates an omniscient narrator in select chapters. Martel also creates an additional first person narrator at the end of the novel.

What are the elements of the short story Life of Pi?

Elements of “Life of Pi”

  • Main Conflict. Conflict/Problem Pi is trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger, with little food and water.
  • Theme. How brought out in the book- Pi believed in three religions, and praying about them on the lifeboat everyday helped him get through his troubles.
  • Setting.
  • Characters.

What are the two stories in Life of Pi?

At the end of the movie Life of Pi, Pi tells us two stories. One with the tiger (unrealistic) and one without the tiger (realistic). I believe that he was metaphorically referring himself as the tiger who enters the forest (world) after being rescued.

What does Life of Pi represent?

Within the story are themes of spirituality and religion, self-perception, the definition of family, and the nature of animals. Life of Pi is a rich and dynamic text full of discussion of morality, faith, and the ambivalence of what constitutes truth.

What form of narration is used in the last part of the novel Life of Pi?

The final section of the book (Part Three) is written mainly as a transcript of a conversation between Pi and two officials, bookended by first-person comments from the author. setting (time)The author tells Pi’s story from an undetermined contemporary point, some years after the publication of his second book in 1996.

Who is the narrator in Life of Pi?

Piscine Molitor Patel, known to all as just “Pi”, is the narrator and protagonist of the novel.

What is the exposition rising action climax falling action and denouement of the story Life of Pi?

The Falling Action is the after affects of the climax. The Falling action in The Life of Pi is when he is on the life boat untill he reaches Mexico. The denouement in the Life of Pi is when Pi lands in Mexico untill the book comes to its end. When Pi lands in Mexico it concludes his time on the life boat.

What is the main conflict in Life of Pi?

The main conflict of Life of Pi is the struggle to survive. In order to live, Pi has to face conflicts of man versus nature, man versus self, and man versus man. The man versus nature conflicts includes animals, the elements, and a carnivorous island.

Can you write an essay about life of Pi?

Pssst… we can write an original essay just for you. Any subject. Any type of essay. We’ll even meet a 3-hour deadline. Life of Pi is a story of the survival of the Indian boy “Pi” at sea for 277days. He has been raised up with Hindu religion, and then later he discovered Christianity and Islam.

What was the historical context of life of Pi?

Historical Context of Life of Pi. Pondicherry is also a unique part of India because it was once a French colony (while most of India was ruled by Britain), so it has a diverse and unique culture where Pi could be exposed to Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam.

What did Pi learn on the lifeboat in life of Pi?

On the lifeboat, Pi modified three belief that he first learned in India: tigers were fierce, dangerous carnivores, consuming animals were immoral, and that he could be an omnists. Pi was taught early on about how tiger were ferocious, dangerous and he should stay away.

How old is Piscine in the life of Pi?

In the Life of Pi, Piscine Molitor Patel, a 16 year old Indian boy from Pondicherry experienced two hundred twenty-seven days lost at sea. Undoubtedly this would have a life-changing impact on some of his beliefs and habits.


A scene removed from Harry Potter puts Draco Malfoy in a whole new light.  See for yourself! [WIDEO]

For the loss of history

Films have a limited time frame, so it is only natural for creators to delete and add scenes from time to time before showing the audience the final version of the picture. As a rule, however, the heroes and the whole story lose in this process. This is what happened to the movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II” with the character Draco Malfoy. He was one of the villains in the series, the school rival of the main character. He came from a rich family associated with Voldemort. Although he is mainly portrayed as a negative hero, he gained strength. He has a lot of fans, but it turns out that one scene that was removed from the movie really changes the character’s level, so who exactly was Malfoy?

Changed display

In a scene that was removed from The Deathly Hallows, Draco Malfoy’s character was definitely reformed. And while that clip didn’t end up in the movie, we can see it on YouTube. In the video, we see a young Malfoy running up to Harry and handing him his wand, right after Neville Longbottom’s speech. It is known that the boy turned out to be good in the end.

Illustration torn inside

Deleting scenes or not including them in the script often affects how we see the characters. Over the course of the series, we often see Malfoy struggling with the choices he makes. Through pressure from his relatives and the actions of his father Lucius, despite his own resistance and fear, Draco became a Death Eater, choosing evil. And it is worth remembering that in “The Half-Blood Prince” he did not want to kill Dumbledore. Voldemort made him do it. At the crucial moment, Malfoy defies the order.

A more heroic fate

In the book, basically in the script of the game “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” we learn about the fate of Malfoy. Draco started a family and broke away from family values. Although his early life seemed stable and happy, it was marked. for the tragedy and death of his beloved wife.

It is worth adding, however, that “Cursed Child” causes a lot of controversy among fans of the series, mainly because of plot elements that do not fit with the main series about Harry Potter. Many people believe that the book has no rules.

Not just Draco

Malfoy has never been a good or bad character. The filmmakers took no time to show her transformation. But there were many more situations in the “Harry Potter” series. Finally, it was decided to remove from the final version of the film the moment when Harry reconciles with his cousin Dudley. And it was a very important event in the context of the whole series.

Author: Judyta Nowak – RMF Classic


Technology brokerage in nanoengineering and biotechnology

The master's degree program in English is made to at train the demanded competitive specialists in technological brokerage, who are able to bring to the market the results of intellectual activity in the field of biotechnology and chemical nano-engineering using the most modern implementation technologies.

During the English-taught program, basic concepts and main trends in the field will be revealed:

* biotechnology and nanoengineering

* technological product

* innovation process

* technological chain

Will be considered:

* various types of innovative projects and stages of their implementation,

* operational ways of obtaining maximum revenue asap

* methods and approaches for the commercialization of projects.

The students receive the following competencies necessary for a modern specialist:
- the ability to create innovative developments in the field of biotechnology and nano-engineering,
- the ability to bring the results of intellectual activity to consumers,
- engineering and fundamental knowledge in the field of nanoengineering and biotechnology
- soft skills (for example, management of concentration and attention, teamwork, critical, problem-oriented thinking, etc.)


Aviation accidents aren’t as common as biking or car accidents, but the effects they leave behind are felt for years to come. These accidents are some of the most devastating and deadly accidents that can occur with high numbers of passengers and crew losing their lives as a result. This means that countless families are left grieving and asking the question- Why did the plane crash?

There are several reasons why these accidents might occur. These reasons range from alcoholic impairment by the pilot to mechanical errors. Whatever the cause might be, a lawyer who specializes in aviation accidents and incidents can help determine the true cause of the accident. Once the  family members are informed of who the responsible party is, the lawyer can help file a suit against them.

So if you or a family member has been a victim of an airplane crash, here are some things you need to know before filing a claim.

Who Can File a Lawsuit?

The circumstances of the accident are how a person will know whether they or someone else has to file the claim. This knowledge is important when filing a lawsuit. So here are some examples of situations where a lawsuit could be filed and who can file for them.

  1. If someone is injured or killed in an aviation accident, a lawsuit can be brought against the party deemed responsible. This responsible party might be the pilot who was flying the aircraft, the airline, the owner of the aircraft if the crash occurred on a private plane, the manufacturer of the plane and its key components, the maintenance personnel who looked over the aircraft before take-off, and others who might have had a role in this crash. In this case, the injured person, their spouse, their legal guardian, their kin, and anyone in the danger zone of the accident who experienced emotional harm as a result of the accident can file lawsuits against the responsible party or parties.
  2. Wrongful death can occur as a result of an airplane crash. Most states have the rule that the deceased’s spouse or child(ren) are entitled to sue for the damage. Also, in most states, if there is no spouse, then their child or the child’s guardian can sue. If there is no spouse or child(ren), then the deceased’s parents are often able to sue. After parents, the next in the line of priority are any siblings they might have.

There are a number of parties who can be responsible for the accident. An aviation accident attorney is able to help discover the true cause and nature of the accident. Once the victim and their loved ones know who the responsible party is, the attorney can help file the suit against the responsible party.

How Quickly Should the Suit be Filed? And is There a Time Limit?

After a serious aircraft accident resulting in an injury or the death of a loved one, financial issues aren’t as important as recovering and mourning. So take your time to heal and mourn, but know that there is a statute of limitations in each state and country for this kind of accidents. For this reason, determining the deadline can be difficult, so seeking legal advice from an aviation attorney as soon as possible is a good idea.

There are time limits for filing a lawsuit, with a few rare exceptions allowing for more time. There are several factors that will determine how long you have to file. Again, this is why contacting an aviation attorney as quickly as possible is crucial. They will be able to guide you through the process and let you know what your timeline is for everything.

How to Find a Good Attorney

When looking for the right attorney to help with aviation accident cases, you might want to use a lawyer referral service to help you get recommendations. Also asking for recommendations from friends, family, and other trusted sources might yield some good recommendations. Also, make sure your attorney has passed the bar exam so they can do more than just give you legal advice on how to proceed with the plane accident case. Just because they have a law degree doesn’t mean they can represent clients in court. So, find someone that can do it all for you.

How Much Time Will This Take?

Plane crash investigations can be complex, with many months passing before a definitive cause can be determined. In some occurrences, a case will be settled after it’s filed, and on rare occurrences, even before it’s filed. However, the average time for a final resolution is about two years.

During the time when your aviation accident case is pending, you won’t have much of your time taken up. You will have to provide information before and during the lawsuit. You may also have to give a deposition testimony and will be involved in settlement discussions as the case goes on. Your attorney will be doing most of the work with collecting the evidence and conducting the investigation on the crash. They will also be performing legal research and bringing forth the lawsuit. They will also advise you about settlement offers, but it is your decision about whether to take it or go to trial.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of an aircraft accident and you are seeking a legal professional, contact Scott Senft at 877-291-4878. He covers aviation accidents and can offer you the best legal advice possible.

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What Are Google Algorithm Updates

This post was last updated on June 23, 2022.

Every year, Google updates its search results thousands upon thousands of times. While the majority of these updates are small adjustments to Google’s algorithm, they can have big implications for you, your site and your potential revenue. Even a small update can cause a page that once ranked at the top of the results to move to page two or beyond, lessening the chances that a user will see it, let alone visit it.

How can you prevent a Google algorithm update from impacting your site? Let’s explore Google’s algorithm updates:

Looking to expand your SEO knowledge? Check out our SEO Hub, whether you’re just getting started with your SEO, or consider yourself an advanced professional, we’ve got resources for everyone.

What is the Google Algorithm?

Since Google can’t manually sort through billions of web pages every time a user gives it a query, it uses a collection of integrated algorithms to offer the right results for a search term.

Originally, Google used an algorithm called PageRank that relied very heavily on the number and quality of links a site/page received to rank content on its search results page. The model viewed links as an affirmation of the page’s content quality—if high-quality sites linked to a page often, then Google assumed it must contain quality content.

The problem, however, is that links are a secondary signal. The number of links doesn’t tell the search engine about the actual content quality, only the probability that it contains quality content since many people linked to it. Websites could easily game the algorithm through spammy links and content practices.

As time went on, Google’s algorithm evolved to better understand search queries and content. In 2013, Google took a semantic approach in revamping its core algorithm and named it Hummingbird. It measured the substance of a page’s content using signals to better understand how relevant it was to a query. The update also deemphasized keyword placement.

Then in 2015, RankBrain’s release ushered in the age of machine learning. With it, Google could analyze a massive amount of user data to see what pages satisfied users’ intent when searching for a specific query. With this information, RankBrain could build models to understand which on-page factors or content signals were more or less important to a searcher, and use them to structure search results.

For example, when you searched for “buy car insurance” prior to RankBrain, the search results page would list car insurance providers. However, Google quickly realized that often for such queries, users wanted information about buying the product or service (in this case, car insurance). Now Google shows a healthy mix of providers that educate users on how to choose the best insurance:

rank brain google algorithm update

Similarly, because of RankBrain, Google found users wanted an image of the finished dish alongside the recipe. To now rank for a recipe keyword, all things being equal, a page must contain an image:

rank brain google algorithm update

Moving beyond secondary signals, Google has implemented technology like neural matching, Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers (BERT) and Multitask Unified Model (MUM) to better understand user queries.

Ranking factors

Don’t get confused. While the SEO industry has long discussed specific ranking factors or “ranking signals,” a lot of misinformation exists out there on the topic and I strongly advocate for a holistic approach.

Google allegedly uses more than 200 official ranking signals to decide what content should or should not rank for a query. These factors include anything from page performance, to links to content relevance. Many SEO professionals debate one ranking factor’s importance over another, while others will try to “optimize” for as many “factors” as possible.

This is a mistake.

For starters, there is no universal list of the most weighted factors. The factors Google uses vary from query to query, from vertical to vertical. Google uses a complex process to evaluate content, employing machine learning to understand language and better classify and profile content to determine its quality.

To this, Google’s John Mueller said:

“I mean it is something where if you have an overview of the whole web or kind of a large part of the web and you see which type of content is reasonable for which types of content then that is something where you could potentially infer from that. Like for this particular topic, we need to cover these subtopics, we need to add this information, we need to add these images or fewer images on a page. That is something that perhaps you can look at something like that. I am sure our algorithms are quite a bit more complicated than that.”

For example, “good” content for medical information that can greatly impact health should look, sound, and feel different than a gossip column. So for health information, Google trains a machine learning model to identify a content profile based on its leaders, such as the Mayo Clinic.

The assessing of good versus bad content happens in what I’ll call the “pre-algorithmic” stage or the “meta-algorithmic” stage and impacts what kinds of pages rank beyond a specific ranking factor.

Simply, don’t worry about “ranking factors.” Instead, write highly-targeted, substantial content. Cater your content to your target market’s needs and knowledge level. Make sure your content genuinely helps them. That’s the most important thing.

What is a Google Algorithm Update?

Google’s competitive landscape is more varied than you might think. To keep users highly satisfied, Google needs to serve the best results possible. They consider many factors, including user expectations and technological updates.

To keep users satisfied and improve its results, Google will often update or “tweak” its algorithm to change what the SERP shows.

In the early days, Google would release updates to keep people from abusing and manipulating the algorithm. For example, Penguin targeted spammy link practices, and Panda protected against thin content. While Google still releases updates targeting spam, more recently the company is placing more emphasis on surfacing the highest content quality on the SERP.

While we often think of an algorithm update as reevaluating the weight of certain factors on a SERP, this is an oversimplification. Recently, many of Google’s algorithm changes have incorporated technological advancements, specifically many in machine learning. As Google introduces new and better technology into the algorithm, it can better understand page quality and relevance as well as (or a domain overall as many of the quality assessments Google undertakes to look at the quality of the entire site, not just a single page). To that, experts speculate that many of Google’s updates are not changes to the algorithm in the strictest sense but machine learning recalibrating and testing. These changes are perhaps behind a good number of Google unconfirmed algorithm updates.

Confirmed and unconfirmed Google Updates

Google makes thousands of changes to its algorithm every year, yet only officially announces a minority of these updates. Instead, search marketers use an “SEO weather tool” to track significant algorithm changes. When they see more rank movement than typical, they’ll indicate the rank volatility level.

google algorithm updates

The Semrush Sensor, Semrush’s rank volatility weather tool, shows moderate levels of increased rank movement on the Google SERP

In rare instances, Google will officially announce a new algorithm update. Examples of this include the Page Experience update which introduced performance metrics (known as Core Web Vitals) to the algorithm along with the aforementioned iterations of the Panda and Penguin updates.

Google’s broad core updates have been the most commonly confirmed update, but other confirmed updates include Product Review Updates, which aim at ensuring only the best product reviews appear on the SERP.

As a rule, confirmed updates result in far more rank volatility than unofficial updates.

Google’s core algorithm updates

Broad core algorithm updates happen when Google implements wide-ranging changes to the algorithm’s operation. Rather than slight modifications to ancillary aspects, these updates signal a broad change in how Google’s algorithm ranks pages and sites.

While Google has long released broad core algorithm updates, Danny Sullivan, Google’s search liaison, began announcing core updates officially, in March 2018. These tremendously impacted how search marketers think about content.

The most notable of these updates was known as the Medic Update, as it disproportionately impacted Your Money Your Life (YMYL) sites, including finance, health, and other sites that, if contained inaccurate information, could significantly harm a user.

In many ways, the Medic Update served as the prototype for following core updates. It showed a clear qualitative leap in Google’s ability to understand and profile content. Those significantly impacted by the update included sites with a thin content experience and those that put marketing aims above substantial content. For example, if a user searched “how to eat better,” pages that had heavy marketing language or those that showed bias in its own product or service would likely rank lower after this update. On the other hand, Google’s algorithm rewarded authoritative, expert, and unbiased articles on the same topic.

googles core algorithm update

Since then, Google’s core updates have shown an increased ability to understand what quality content looks and sounds like.

By Mordy Oberstein

Head of SEO Branding – Wix

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Is it the primary responsibility of corporations to return money to shareholders?

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

This blog post was contributed by Jennifer Arosio, a student in the MSc Leading Innovative Organizations at JKU Linz, and is based on the lecture “CSR and Stakeholder Relations” by Prof. Dr. Nora Lohmeyer (class #8 of Course II)

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) emerged in the 1950s when Howard Bowen advocated for more ethical and responsible businesses and for responsiveness to societal stakeholders (Bowen, 1953). However, the idea has long been relegated to classrooms or to academic debates, and it has only recently gained attention from both corporations and the general public. CSR is a broad concept that includes different theories and meanings and there is no universal consensus on its characterization or a magic formula that will turn an organization into “the responsible organization”. However, it has been noted that CSR’s main theories are focused on one aspect of social reality, namely economics, politics, social integration and ethics (Garriga and Melé, 2004). In this post, I will compare a position that sees companies as purely economic actors with one that recognizes the interconnection between them and society[1]. I will then discuss my thoughts on the topic.

The shareholders’ perspective is probably the most known theory when discussing an organization’s economic responsibility. In 1970, the New York Times Magazine published Milton Friedman’s piece, in which he stated that the primary responsibility of corporations should be to return money to their shareholders and pursue economic growth as long as they remain within the law (Friedman, 1970). This idea had a long-lasting impact on how corporations conducted their daily operations. Even today some scholars and executives agree with this view and business schools continue to stress that the overarching agenda of organizations should be profits maximization. A representative example of this behavior could be the fierce competition for short-term trading, hostile takeovers, and purely financial figures that dominated Wall Street, and the “finance world” in general, up until at least 2008. The financial crisis exposed how faulty the perception of firms as isolated entities with no interests other than their own short-term profits was. It became then apparent (again) that businesses were embedded in society and that their activities could influence it.

A different perspective emerged in the mid-1980s. It emphasizes the relationship between business and society and acknowledges how diverse stakeholders can affect or be affected by a company (Freeman, 1984). In addition to shareholders, stakeholders include suppliers, governments, communities, employees, non-governmental organizations, etc. According to this perspective, an organization’s long-term success depends on the support of these stakeholders. Therefore, management should actively tend to the interests of all stakeholders in order to develop effective company strategies (Freeman, 1984). However, the interests of organizations and those of society not always align and this is when CSR comes into play. As a result, today’s social responsibility is not only concerned with how businesses spend their money (e.g., donations) but also with how they make that money and in which activities they actively engage to further the common good, even when those activities may not result in a financial benefit. And this view is becoming dominant in modern society.  Organizations are no longer regarded as entities that operate in a vacuum; on the contrary, it is widely accepted that their actions have political, ethical, environmental, and social consequences. We could even take this one step further and say that a rising part of the general public is demanding that corporations take action in response to societal issues. In the past few years, in addition to ongoing concerns about climate change, the world went through Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and now the overturn of Roe v. Wade in the United States. Businesses were expected to take a stand in all these situations. Let us take a closer look at each of them individually.

I believe that Covid illustrates how society influences corporations and vice versa. On the one hand, businesses were required to put the public health interests above their own, to stop conducting business in person, and to modify their operations for the societal good. On the other hand, some corporations implemented their own policies in addition to the ones imposed by governments. For instance, Walmart introduced flexible schedules, a special emergency COVID-19 leave policy for its employees and opened vaccine clinics in support of the community.

Following the killing of Georg Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, corporations were openly urged by their employees and customers to support the Black Lives Matter movement and join the fight for racial equality. One of the first streaming platforms to release a statement in support of the protests was Netflix. In addition to that, the company pledged $100 million in support of Black communities in the US, and its CEO donated $120 million to historically black institutions and universities.

On March 1, 2022, just a few days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Apple issued a press release stating that the company had halted product sales and exports to Russia, restricted access to its services like Apple Pay, and even taken steps to increase safety for Ukrainian citizens by blocking access to real-time events in Apple maps. This is an excellent illustration of how certain major corporations are demanded to intervene in geopolitical concerns because they are seen as having more influence (and longevity) than some governments.

Finally, moving onto an even more recent issue, on Friday, June 24 2022, the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, banning the facto the right to abortion in the United States. While, at the time of writing this piece (June 26, 2022), we have not yet seen a fully-fledged response to the issue, some businesses such as Warner Bros., Condé Nast, Google, etc., have already declared an expansion of their health benefits and travel expenses coverage for abortions. Moreover, I think that it will be difficult for businesses to ignore the problem, and that additional responses will follow.

These were all circumstances in which companies got actively involved in sociopolitical matters, demonstrating their obligations to both their community and society as a whole. Obviously, none of these actions are exempt from critique or skepticism. Walmart is known for low pay and below-average working conditions. Netflix pledged its donation only after some of its stakeholders expressed negative emotions toward a mere press release message. Apple and all the other companies pulling out of Russia might be doing so for future gain, to avoid losing the trust of their customers, or just to avoid governmental sanctions. Not to mention all the situations of “greenwashing” or “ethic washing” where corporations’ CSR statements are only a facade for “business as usual”. Moreover, despite the fact that CSR has several components, organizations typically only handle one of them at a time, depending on the urgency of the situation and the general mood of the public. Additionally, CSR’s critics will argue that businesses operate in a capitalistic market and it would be naive to assume that their actions are completely altruistic. They will remark that a company’s primary objective is always survival (if not supremacy), and that CSR could be a strategic tool to obtain public support and sustain a competitive advantage.

However, the examples prove how inaccurate it is to think that a corporation’s sole responsibility is to return money to its shareholders. This perspective, in my opinion, is based on the wrong assumption that firms can be taken in isolation from society and it is also too limited in its idea of shareholders. Friedman’s doctrine fails to acknowledge that shareholders are also members of society and their individual interests might go beyond mere profit maximization (Datta, 2021).

In conclusion, I disagree not just with the idea that firms should simply return profits to shareholders, but also with an overly negative interpretation of their CSR efforts. It is important to be aware of CSR decoupling, which occurs when organizations adhere only superficially to the institutional pressure (Meyer and Rowan, 1977), thus creating a discrepancy between CSR reports and actual practice. However, if reports and practices are aligned, should the general public be concerned with the underlying reasons for which companies engage in those practices? Should we agree with Machiavelli’s dictum that “the end justifies the means” in this case? From the outside, it might be impossible to fully comprehend the root causes that push corporations to be more responsible and critiques might be superficial. While it is true that a lack of real commitment might lead to questionable practices, it is also true that actions that have a positive social impact send a powerful message to the broader public which may, in turn, ultimately reinforce mechanisms for more responsible corporate behavior.

This brief excursus shows how times have changed since Friedman’s essay. Today corporations know that they need society for their survival and growth and recognize the importance of social responsibility. This does not mean that CSR will annihilate the shareholders’ view. However, the only approach that can deal with the complexity of contemporary society is one that is more inclusive and takes into account diverse stakeholders.

[1] Only American corporations have been included in this essay to give a homogeneous overview of companies’ responses to societal issues.

Datta, Y. (2021). Friedman Doctrine: Maximizing profits is neither good for society nor even for the shareholders. Journal of Economics and Public Finance, 7(3), 153-191.

Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Boston: Pittman.

Friedman, M. (1970). A Friedman doctrine: The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine, 13(1970), 32-33.

Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1), 51-71.

Do digital platforms contribute as much to creating as to solving crises?

Photo by Adem AY on Unsplash

This blog post was contributed by Birgit Plöchl, a student in the MSc Leading Innovative Organizations at JKU Linz

The Russian invasion in Ukraine has a lot of impact on day-to-day life all around Europe. Millions of Ukrainians are fleeing the country, infrastructure is being destroyed, and people are lacking basic needs, such as food or hygiene. Hence, Europe is facing one of the biggest crises in recent years. In comparison to other wars in European history, this one is also waged online. Soldiers do not only fight over territory, but hackers attack governmental systems, or media platforms. The goal is to get as much internal information of the opponent as possible to accumulate leverage. In addition, social media channels are used to share information about current happenings. People also use it to organise themselves to provide humanitarian aid, to show their lives at the frontiers, or to share their personal opinions. In this essay, I will argue that digital platforms contribute as much to creating as to solving crises. In the next paragraphs, I will display three main aspects of digital platforms and explain how and why those not only help solve the crisis but also enhance it. While there are various kinds of crises, this essay addresses the specific crisis of a war with the example of the current Russian Invasion in Ukraine. My focus will lie on social media platforms. It is of utmost importance to state that I only address problems with regards to the social media platforms, however, knowledge-, media sharing-, and probably service-oriented platforms, such as Quora, Spotify, and AirBnb are areas of interest too in order to understand the importance of digital platforms with regards to the contribution to crises. I will use an inverted pyramid approach and will state an argument per aspect that is then supported by facts and examples.

First, social media platforms are super spreaders for fake news. Since everyone can post anything at any time, people often misinterpret personal opinions as facts. This allows people without sufficient knowledge about a topic to share unverified information with their followers. Various content creators use their social media channels to show their own lifestyle, values, and beliefs. Most content consumers follow influencers because they value those or even because they aim to be like them too. This is a problem, once content creators use their reach to convince people of questionable opinions based on fake or only partial true information. In addition, they often have hidden agendas or get paid in order to share particular information. Online profiles are very opaque, and it is often not clear who the manager of the specific accounts is. For example, David Gilbert, a VICE news reporter, states that Russian Tik Tok influencers were paid to share Russian propaganda. Based on his article, an anonymous administrator shared detailed plans on how and what to post on the individual Tik Tok channels via a Telegram chat group (Gilbert, 2022). Especially critical are channels of state-owned enterprises, governmental association or state-affiliated media (HRW, 2022). By now many globally known social media platforms have taken actions to counter the spread of propaganda and incorrect news. However, it takes too much time to control and identify wrong information and delete them. Both governments and social media platforms are too slow to ban fake news (Susi et al., 2022). However, there is not only news that is fake on social media platforms.

Another significant way social media can be problematic is that people can create fake profiles online to stay anonymous. Those profiles are mostly used to share socially unacceptable ideas, ask embarrassing questions, or to spread hate speech and abusive comments, or conspiracy theories (Wani et al., 2017). Coscia & Rossi (2022) state that the use of social media increases ideological segregation and enhances polarisation. In case of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, people were able to transmit their own ideologies, even if those were based on low quality news or personal opinions instead of facts. Consequently, people in and outside the war zone adapted more extreme opinions for either party. Researchers have identified that the Kremlin used social media to radicalise individuals way before they invaded Ukraine. In addition, BBC reporters discovered that a  pro-russian network steals and uses pictures of famous influencers to create fake profiles where they then share posts linked with hashtags such as #IStandWithPutin or #IStandWithRussia (Gragnani et al., 2022).  To reach as many people as possible, the algorithms of digital platforms are crucial. This brings me to the next main aspect why digital platforms contribute as much to creating as to solving them.

Digital platforms such as Facebook or Instagram rely on algorithms for an individual adapted news feed of their customers. Artificial intelligence, also called AI, is used to identify a person’s preferences, and optimise their news feed or home pages of their social media accounts. By drawing on digital traces, the algorithms can detect personal preferences and create a personalised loop of information shown to the person (Calice et al., 2021). The technology creates an information bias that causes people to reach conclusions quicker. Hence, people form opinions before having enough knowledge to establish a well-informed decision. The above-mentioned fake news, or conspiracy theories, can be distributed easier based on the algorithms. For example, if a person already doubts the media or is vulnerable to conspiracy, they might seek out certain keywords or hashtags online. AI recognises a pattern in the person’s digital footprint and the news feed shows more similar content. This creates a certain “bubble” social media consumers live in and clearly shapes their values and points of view. In addition, there are software robots, also called bots, that work either fully automated or with little intervention of humans. While some of them are used for public good, a lot of them spread malware or spam. The social bots are newer and are very critical as the software interacts with people and it is very hard to detect them. They aim to adapt the people’s behaviour (Himelein-Wachowiak et al., 2021). The researchers have found that bots were supporting and spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation during the Covid-19 crisis. This means, it is possible that bots are used to interact with people during the Russian Ukraine war too. Hence, AI and bots can enhance crises as the sharing of wrong information is very easy.

This essay has explored the effects of social media platforms on the current Ukrainian crisis. Moreover, there are more general implications in which these platforms can potentially harm individual lives and behaviours. One aspect of why digital platforms contribute to crises is the general information overload we face nowadays. Wherever we go, and whenever we want, we can surf online and get information about certain topics. This also means that we are more aware of the bad things happening globally. In his book “Humankind”, Bregman (2021) clarifies that the world has never been as peaceful as today. Nevertheless, people all over the world think that there is more crime and violence happening than ever before. A big part of this misperception is the media coverage of crime rates (John Howard, 2019). Crime is often the most covered topic in the news. As stated in the blog entry of John Howard (2019), Harper & Hogue (2017) discovered that 2% of the crimes in UK were sex offenses but had a media coverage of 20%. This clearly shows a disproportionate coverage. Further, people tend towards a “hometown favouritism” (Duffy & Wake, 2008), meaning that they perceive their own social community as better than others. Hence, people are biased towards their known society bubble, and get more and more information about negative incidents in different areas of their home country or globally. Consequently, the media shapes their opinion about the global state of peace that is misleading. The more news about crime is consumed, the more people fear that they will be victims to crime (Näsi et al., 2021). This increasing fear leads them to look for comfort and seek stricter rules or authoritarian leadership (Gelfand, 2020).

If we look once again at the Russian Ukraine war, this can clearly explain how people who do not have a supportive surrounding or fear the future are easily manipulated by conspiracy theories or fake news they consume on digital platforms. As stated before, the Russian government has used social media to mobilise individuals towards pro-russian beliefs years before they invaded Ukraine. I trust that if there was not such an information overload that impacts the mental health of a lot of people, that would not have been possible to the extent it was. Further, the so-called weltschmerz, which stands for the pain that living people feel towards other people that suffer because of their empathy, increases by the tremendous sources of news available.  To conclude, I have stated three main aspects that clearly show that digital platforms contribute as much to creating as to solving crises. First, I addressed the problem of fake news, followed by the complexity of the algorithms that enable all the digital platforms we use, and lastly, the overall mood worldwide caused by an information overload. While digital platforms surely have great positive contributions to solving crises such as enabling humanitarian aids, it is very important to also understand their negative impact. Governments and social media companies must solve the problems of fake profiles, bots, and misinformation as soon as possible to help to deescalate the current situation or at least to stop intensifying it. During the process of writing this essay, I realised that there are still various areas to discover to understand the specific implications of digital platforms better.

Bregman, R. (2021). Humankind: A Hopeful History. Bloomsbury.

Calice, M. N., Bao, L., Freiling, I., Howell, E., Xenos, M. A., Yang, S., Brossard, D., Newman, T. P., & Scheufele, D. A. (2021). Polarized platforms? How partisanship shapes perceptions of “algorithmic news bias.” New Media & Society, 14614448211034160.

Coscia, M., & Rossi, L. (2022). How minimizing conflicts could lead to polarization on social media: An agent-based model investigation. PLOS ONE, 17(1), e0263184.

Duffy, B., & Wake, R. (2008). Crime and Public Perceptions, 76.

Gelfand, M. (2020, January 2). Authoritarian leaders thrive on fear. We need to help people feel safe. The Guardian.

Gilbert, D. (2022, March 11). Russian TikTok Influencers Are Being Paid to Spread Kremlin Propaganda. Vice.

Gragnani, J., Medhavi, A., & Seraj, A. (2022, May 9). Ukraine war: The stolen faces used to promote Vladimir Putin. BBC News.

Harper, C. A., & Hogue, T. E. (2017). Press coverage as a heuristic guide for social decision-making about sexual offenders. Psychology, Crime & Law, 23(2), 118–134.

Himelein-Wachowiak, M., Giorgi, S., Devoto, A., Rahman, M., Ungar, L., Schwartz, H. A., Epstein, D. H., Leggio, L., & Curtis, B. (2021). Bots and Misinformation Spread on Social Media: Implications for COVID-19. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(5), e26933.

HRW. (2022). Russia, Ukraine, and Social Media and Messaging Apps: Questions and Answers on Platform Accountability and Human Rights Responsibilities. Human Rights Watch.

John Howard. (2019, January 7). Media portrayals of crime create problems. The John Howard Society of Canada.

Näsi, M., Tanskanen, M., Kivivuori, J., Haara, P., & Reunanen, E. (2021). Crime News Consumption and Fear of Violence: The Role of Traditional Media, Social Media, and Alternative Information Sources. Crime & Delinquency, 67(4), 574–600.

Susi, M., Benedek, W., Fischer-Lessiak, G., Kettemann, M. C., Schippers, B., & Viljanen, J. (2022). Governing Information Flows During War: A Comparative Study of Content Governance and Media Policy Responses After Russia’s Attack on Ukraine. GDHRNet Working Paper.

Wani, S. Y., Wani, M., & Sofi, M. (2017). Why Fake Profiles: A study of Anomalous users in different categories of Online Social Networks. International Journal of Engineering, Technology, Science and Research, 4, 320–329.

Is CSR a market(ing) instrument to attract shareholders? A perspective from Austria

Website Dow Jones Sustainability World Index

This blog post was contributed by Hannah Schneller and Mario Stich, both students in the MSc Leading Innovative Organizations at JKU Linz, based on class #8 of Course II, “CSR and Stakeholder Relations“.

Discussing the shareholder vs. stakeholder approach in CSR strategies in class was great, and we concluded that Friedman’s shareholder value approach from the 70s would actually harm shareholders in today’s business environments due to its short-term focus and missing out on essential stakeholders. Especially in a global business environment, where social and environmental tragedies and disasters are common, it is even more critical that corporations change their perspective.

In our discussion, it has become clear that long-term shareholder value can be created with a holistic CSR approach, including a corporate strategy that attends to all company stakeholders. The triple bottom line concept, for example does not value the profitability of societal or environmental impact but rather treats these dimensions as separate and competing (Miller, 2020). However, today companies can also financially benefit by committing to the triple bottom line with sustainable business practices since financial market instruments, green bonds, and sustainability indices have become popular on the financial market.

Hence, we want to extend our in-class discussion in this blog post and discuss if sustainability indices are about sustainability or are used as a market(ing) instrument.

For this reason, we will focus on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. S&P Global’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment indicates that the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index contains the “world’s top sustainability leaders”. Based on long-term economic, environmental, and social criteria, it reflects the top 10% of the top 2,500 firms in the S&P Global BM (S&P Global, 2022). Therefore, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index is a perfect example that profit orientation and narrowed shareholder focus are no longer applicable in today’s business settings to be financially attractive as a company on the market.

Many companies, like big industry giants and oil companies, are known as the biggest CO2 emitters in their country but are still included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The question we want to discuss is if sustainability indices are actually contributing to more sustainable practices or if they are just attractive for financial institutions to list performant companies and sell them to shareholders in the end.

From the Austrian viewpoint, we criticize the inclusion of organizations such as the Austrian steel company voestalpine or the oil company OMV. These industry giants have been the highest and second-highest CO2 emitters in Austria in the year 2020 (Dauer, 2021).

However, they are listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index ranking, and we argue that the corporation’s core motivation concerning CSR is to be financially attractive to shareholders and use its CSR additionally as a market(ing) measure. It can be seen as a marketing instrument because an organization’s commitment to CSR (proven by sustainability indices) can attract shareholders – since they value and invest in organizations that operate socially and environmentally responsible. That, in turn, will maximize the profits in the long-term, which allows a better position in the market. Nevertheless, these two mentioned companies show responsibility in their company plans by really targeting to lower CO2 emissions in the future. (OMV, 2022; voestalpine, 2022).

Another example can be seen in the Higg Material Sustainability Index (MSI). The recent development of companies ranked in this index shows that it could also be of risk for investors to invest in companies that are not 100 % transparent. Major fashion brands such as H&M were misleading customers by stating incorrect manufacturing data regarding their environmental impact (e. g. saved water, global warming impact, etc.). To go into more detail, brands could manipulate the numbers by adding data from a small best practice example while they will not disclose data from their mass production (Britten, 2022). Misrepresentation of a company’s CSR KPIs is a target for investigation. Greenwashing or other types of falsification for marketing purposes have the opposite effect and rob authenticity and trust in companies.

Even though the stakeholder approach fails to minimize the complexity of the business-society relationship (Barnett, 2019), we support the shift from the shareholder to the stakeholder perspective. For this purpose, it is crucial to promote those companies that are sincerely committed to their CSR. Thus, we request, first, stronger audits before and after including a company in a sustainability index. Second, transparency of the organization’s figures must be a new standard for sustainability indices. Finally, it can also be a threat for investors who truly believe in investing in sustainable companies if financial institutions promote sustainability bonds and “green” indices.

After our argumentation and outlined examples, we are interested in your opinion and insights. Please let us know in the comments what you think about the question: Are sustainability indices sustainable, or are they just a marketing instrument? And what measures may be possible to promote the CSR of companies? Can you find other questionable members in the mentioned indices?

Additional references

Barnett, M. L. (2019). The business case for corporate social responsibility: A critique and an indirect path forward. Business & Society, 58(1), 167-190.

Friedman, M. (1970.) The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine, 13, September 1970.


Thru-Hiking For Beginners: 11 Things To Have In Mind

Thru-Hiking For Beginners Things To Have In Mind

Going on a thru-hike could provide you with an enthralling and rewarding experience. Completing one is said to give the hiker a sense of accomplishment that not many other activities can provide.

You’ll be out in nature for months, as you build long-lasting friendships, and endure (occasionally) harsh but rewarding conditions. Your first long-distance hiking experience always needs an extra push, but it is certainly going to be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.

Yes, it might be incredibly tough and you might even want to turn back on some days. But completing the hike shows a level of endurance, perseverance, and mental toughness that is simply incredible.

I would like to share a couple of beginner hiking tips to help ensure that your first time thru-hiking is an enjoyable and satisfying experience.

Choose the right hiking trail: If this is your first long-distance hiking experience, then going to tackle a long and hard trail is probably not the best choice. You should search for short and easy backpacking trips in your local area, perhaps a week or two walking a Camino de Santiago if you are in Europe, and use these as stepping stones as you build towards longer hiking trips.

Take good care of your feet: You need to treat your feet like gold during your hike because they are possibly the most crucial part of your hike. During a thru-hike, your feet act as a vehicle.

If not for them, you basically won’t be able to move through that long distance and enjoy the amazing views that the hike would provide you.

Most thru-hikers choose to wear synthetic socks, running gaiters, and lightweight running shoes. These will help to minimize blistering, keep the weight off your feet, and also allow your feet to breathe. You should also ensure that you give a good clean to your boots and dry your hiking shoes each night towards the next day of hiking.

At the end of the day, you need to focus on your own hike. The worst thing you can do is compare your daily mileage to another person’s as this could push you past your natural limitations.

Your body might need to rest for a day and refresh before you start another day of hiking, so pushing it could lead to some very unwanted repercussions.

Plan your route: After you have chosen the trail you want to hike through, then you must plan out the specific routes you will be taking as well as where you intend to sleep during the hike.

Some trails have special campsites along the way while some others allow you to stop anywhere you choose. You can create an exact route plan with a particular distance that you aim to cover each day.

Get in shape: No matter how fit you believe you are, you probably need to step it up a notch if you want to go on a thru-hike. Walking with a heavy backpack for long distances and for a long time can prove to be very tasking.

You can talk to a fitness trainer or any friends you have that are thru-hikers, and they could help you generate a fitness plan that will help ensure you’re in perfect shape for the trail you plan to hike through.

Save some money: Going on a thru-hike is not like other short backpacking trips because it is almost impossible for you to carry all the food that you will need throughout your hike.

All the food that you would need for a couple of weeks is surely not going to fit in a single backpack, and if it does, it would most likely be too heavy for you to carry over a long distance.

So, save some money up before you go on the thru-hike to ensure you can easily buy any food or other necessities that you would require.

Pack light: This is one of the most important beginner hiking tips as it could either make or mar your whole hiking experience. If you forget something important, then you could run into some trouble on the way.

Some of the most vital things that you must not forget include food, clothes, a sleeping bag, water and water filters, a first aid kit, a navigation device or map, and good hiking shoes.

It is also essential that your backpack is not heavy as this could prove to be problematic while hiking through a long trail.

Try out your gear: It is best for you to find any problems with your gear long before you’re out in the middle of nature. This is why you need to try out your hiking shoes or boots as well as any other gear long before you start the hike.

This will also help you ensure that all your gear is in perfect working condition and comfortable for you.

Don’t overschedule: A lot of beginner thru-hikers believe that they can map out the schedule of their trip from start to finish with exact documentation of what will happen and when it will happen during the hike. This is admirable but it is a clear beginner’s mistake.

If you ask any experienced thru-hiker, they would tell you that the first few days might go just as you planned. But, there will almost certainly be unexpected circumstances and events that will slow you down.

One of the most common factors is your body’s condition. If you’re aiming to keep up with a specific and exact schedule, then you might start feeling really tired and possibly even push yourself into an injury. Do not sacrifice your health just for your schedule to be followed.

Don’t quit your hike on a bad day: Any experienced thru-hiker would tell you that there are definitely going to be some days where you want to just turn back and head home. This is absolutely normal and we’ve all been there.

Hard days on a thru-hike are simply inevitable, however, it is very important that you keep your mental fortitude and do not quit on a bad day. It is very easy for you to quit when you’re exhausted or when the weather feels harsher than usual.

So don’t just do it based on the emotions from a bad day. If you do quit, ensure it is for a concrete reason and after serious consideration.

Listen to your body, it knows best: At the beginning of your hike, ensure that you pace yourself and gradually build the number of miles you cover as your legs gain strength.

Your body will sometimes tell you if you need a rest or if you need to go a little slower. When you feel this impulse, listen to your body and take the necessary rest. This is an efficient way to prevent mental fatigue and also avoid injuries.

On a thru-hike, you will have moments where you need to push through pain, but pushing too hard could spell an early end to your hike.

Know the common obstacles of hikers and actively avoid them: The hard truth is that most people that try to complete a thru-hike do not end up going the whole way. Only a few people actually end up completing these hikes, so it is important that you know where others have faced problems on the trails and avoid succumbing to these same pitfalls.

Some of the most common reasons why people quit in the middle of a thru-hike include:

  • Mental fatigue: Hiking can be a very difficult experience for your body and an even harder one for your mind. There will be periods of exhaustion, filth, hunger, cold, and many other situations that you will have to deal with. You must be mentally prepared to ensure that you do not give up in these moments of weakness and continue to forge ahead.
  • Sickness or physical injury: Going on a thru-hike would put your muscles, joints, and bones under an intense amount of pressure and stress. Your body must be well taken care of during the hike. Also, be prepared to deal with any possible illnesses or injuries you might face during your trip.
  • Having unrealistic expectations: One of the most important tips for beginner hikers is to know your limitations and steer away from unrealistic expectations for your hike. Hiking involves a lot of hard work that is not always exciting, although it always turns out to be very rewarding.
  • Running out of money or time: This is one factor that can be effectively dealt with when an efficient plan is put in place. You must ensure that your schedule is followed judiciously and that you stay within your budget. Put together a clear plan, track your progress through the trail, and ensure that you always know how much money you have.

Follow Outdooradept for more hiking & outdoor guides.


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Home >> News >> How Do Elevators Work?

How Do Elevators Work?

Sep. 08, 2022

Construction projects require a great deal of detail and can take months or years to complete. An important part of the construction process is to ensure that you choose the correct structural design and materials. You must consider the foundations and various natural elements before incorporating certain additions into the building.

When building a multi-story building, you should consider how people will access each floor. Stairs are a natural choice, but it is also wise to install an elevator as it is quicker, easier, and takes into account disabled people and mobility issues.

How do elevators work?

Elevators haven't changed much since the 1800s. The elevator still maintains its original purpose of transporting people across floors. Otis safety systems are used in most elevator types and have been since the 1850s. Modern elevator control systems have changed to improve speed and safety. In most cases, the elevator will use a counterweight and 40% of the maximum rated load to balance the car.

 Passenger Elevator for Residential Building

 Passenger Elevator for Residential Building

The main purpose of the counterweight is to reduce the weight of the motor elevator and to maintain control of the entire elevator with the cables intact. The car elevator is made of steel for durability and strength. The pulleys used for the elevator cables are held in place by straddling side-to-side elevator shafts. This rotation is controlled by a set of steel beams placed above the elevator car.

Modern elevator cabs are fitted with additional technology. Some have telephones that allow the occupants to seek help in case of emergency. Others have flap doors in the ceiling to allow escape in case of emergency.

Elevators are designed and installed into buildings according to the population capacity of the building and the duties to be performed. For example, some buildings will have large elevators to transport goods to different floors. Hospitals have elevators that open on both sides to facilitate access for emergency patients.

Main features of passenger elevators

  • A counterweight to balance the cars.

  • An electric motor for the elevator the car up and down, including a braking system. Some elevators use a hydraulic mechanism instead.

  • A system of strong metal cables and pulleys running between the car and the motor.

  • Various safety systems protect passengers in the event of a cable break.

  • In larger buildings, electronic control systems use so-called "elevator algorithms" to direct the car to the correct floor to ensure that more people move up and down in the fastest and safest way possible.

Passenger Elevator

Passenger Elevator

How do passenger elevators work?

A passenger elevator is completely enclosed and has an elevator car that travels vertically in the elevator shaft. Passenger elevators transport people between floors at a fairly fast speed. The controls are designed to provide the most economical distribution of passengers throughout the building. The working parts of the elevator car are invisible to the naked eye and the mechanics of the elevator are above, below, and around the car.

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Google Doodle Encourages All Eligible to Register to Vote

National Voter Registration Day is nonpartisan holiday calling on people to register and be part of a cornerstone of democracy.

Doodle encourages eligible Americans to register to vote

One of the most important rights US citizens have is the right to vote. Voting is essential to maintaining a well-functioning democracy.

To highlight the gravity of that fundamental right, Google on Tuesday dedicated its Doodle to National Voter Registration Day.

Celebrated each September since 2012 across the US, the nonpartisan civic holiday is part of a coordinated effort to get eligible citizens registered to vote. Volunteers and organizations across the US will hit the streets Tuesday to raise awareness of voter registration opportunities to eligible citizens who may not register otherwise.

More than one in five eligible Americans aren't registered to vote, according to US Census Bureau data. But over the years, the holiday has helped nearly 4.7 million people register to vote, according to the National Voter Registration Day organization.

"Every year, millions of Americans find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, don't update their registration, or aren't sure how to register," the organization says on its website. "National Voter Registration Day wants to make sure everyone has the opportunity to vote."

As President Joe Biden said in a proclamation Monday praising National Voter Registration Day, "democracy only works when everyone can participate." He encouraged all eligible Americans to make sure their voter registration is up to date, citing the late Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, as saying, "democracy is not a state; it is an act."

If you're not sure where to start, visit vote.gov for more information and resources.