Friday, January 27, 2023

3D printing-centric therapies

 

Surgical uses of 3D printing-centric therapies have a history beginning in the mid-1990s with anatomical modeling for bony reconstructive surgery planning. Patient-matched implants were a natural extension of this work, leading to truly personalized implants that fit one unique individual.[142] Virtual planning of surgery and guidance using 3D printed, personalized instruments have been applied to many areas of surgery including total joint replacement and craniomaxillofacial reconstruction with great success.[143] One example of this is the bioresorbable trachial splint to treat newborns with tracheobronchomalacia[144] developed at the University of Michigan. The use of additive manufacturing for serialized production of orthopedic implants (metals) is also increasing due to the ability to efficiently create porous surface structures that facilitate osseointegration. The hearing aid and dental industries are expected to be the biggest area of future development using the custom 3D printing technology.[145]

In March 2014, surgeons in Swansea used 3D printed parts to rebuild the face of a motorcyclist who had been seriously injured in a road accident.[146] In May 2018, 3D printing has been used for the kidney transplant to save a three-year-old boy.[147] As of 2012, 3D bio-printing technology has been studied by biotechnology firms and academia for possible use in tissue engineering applications in which organs and body parts are built using inkjet printing techniques. In this process, layers of living cells are deposited onto a gel medium or sugar matrix and slowly built up to form three-dimensional structures including vascular systems.[148] Recently, a heart-on-chip has been created which matches properties of cells.[149]

Thermal degradation during 3D printing of resorbable polymers, same as in surgical sutures, has been studied, and parameters can be adjusted to minimize the degradation during processing. Soft pliable scaffold structures for cell cultures can be printed.[150]

3D industry

 

In cars, trucks, and aircraft, Additive Manufacturing is beginning to transform both (1) unibody and fuselage design and production and (2) powertrain design and production. For example:

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Graphics skills are important

 

Your blog graphics are important. They capture attention of new readers and keep them reading throughout your content.

In this post, we’re going to cover more about why your blog graphics are so important, graphic sizes you should consider, how to create stunning graphics in Visme and some must-know design tips.

Let’s dive in.

 

Why Blog Graphics Are Important

Your blog graphics help promote your content and get new readers on the page. However, it’s also important to include graphics throughout your blog post to break up your text and further engage your reader.

While creating an initial blog graphic design may take some effort, once you have a design in place, you can reuse the same template for other blog posts. 

By sticking to a template, you establish a brand that readers can instantly relate to with your blog.

Not only do you want to grab reader attention, but you also want to entice readers to consistently return for more content as well as click through your blog posts to sign up for services or purchase a product.

A well-designed blog graphic can do that.

 

Blog Graphic Size Options

While you have full control over how you display images on your blog, there’s little say over how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter present your links

That’s why it’s important to understand optimal social media image sizes so you can create graphics accordingly.

Best practices dictate that you should create a variety of blog graphics that range from slightly different designs to different sizes so you can share optimal sizes on each platform and see which designs perform best.

You can also design several graphics in one go and then schedule them for your Instagram or other social media accounts.

Here are the most popular sizes you’ll want to create blog graphics in:

  • Facebook: 1200 x 630 pixels
  • Twitter: 800 x 400 pixels (or any 2:1 ratio)
  • Instagram: 1080 x 1080 pixels
  • Instagram Stories: 1080 x 1920 pixels
  • Pinterest: 735 x 1102 pixels
  • Graphics Inside Your Blog Content: any size

Bing advertising and SEO are certainly worth considering

 

Search Engine #3. Baidu

Worldwide Search Engine Market Share: 7.34%

Baidu Search Engine

Meet Baidu, the third-largest search engine with a 7.34 percent market share.

This search engine is China’s largest. In fact, Baidu absolutely dominates the Chinese market with 74.73 percent of the market as of February 2019. In comparison, Google has managed to capture only 2 percent of China’s search engine market.

Chinese Search Engines

Baidu was founded in 2000 and has its headquarters in China’s capital, Beijing.

It’s one of the largest artificial intelligence and internet service companies in the world. That said, Baidu holds very little influence outside of China.

It’s worth noting that China has the “largest and most sophisticated online censorship operation in the world.”

This is often referred to as “The Great Firewall of China.”

So, for Western search engines like Google to enter the Chinese market, they must comply with strict and complex censorship laws and regulations.

Baidu Search Engine

Search Engine #4.Yahoo!

Search Engine

 

Worldwide Search Engine Market Share: 8.04%

Bing Search Engine

Bing is the second largest search engine in the world with an 8.04 percent market share

While Bing is small in comparison to Google, it maintains a respectable market share in many countries.

The search engine is owned and operated by Microsoft and has its origins in the previous search engines MSN Search and Windows Live Search.

Just like Google, the search engine also filters search results into different tabs such as images, videos, maps, and news.

Bing Search Engine

Unlike Google, Bing’s homepage always features a stunning image and news stories.

In July 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced a deal in which Bing would power Yahoo!’s search engine – which is currently the fourth largest search engine in the world.

Businesses shouldn’t disregard this search engine.

Although it doesn’t have as many users as Google, Bing still receives 1.3 billion visits per month.

Top 10 Search Engines in the World in 2022

 

Worldwide Search Engine Market Share: 92.18%

Google Search Engine Results It’s difficult to comprehend Google’s epic size.

The search engine is so popular that it’s many times larger than all of the world’s other search engines combined.

Specifically, Google currently holds a whopping 92.18 percent of the worldwide search engine market share.

World's Largest Search Engines

The search engine was born in 1996 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, but here’s the fun part: the two partners actually offered to sell Google in 1999 to internet company Excite for just $750,000.

Excite rejected the offer and have spent the last 20 years kicking themselves.

Today, Google and its parent company Alphabet are worth a staggering $750+ billion.

As a result, Page, Alphabet’s CEO, is the eighth-richest person in the world with a reported net worth of $53.5 billion, and Brin, Alphabet’s President, is the ninth-richest person with a reported net worth of $52.1 billion.

Google Founders

Also, fun fact: The name “Google” is derived from the word “googol.”

A googol is a mathematical term meaning “10 raised to the power of 100” or 1 with 100 zeros after it.

These days, Google is far more than a search engine.

The company has developed many other software solutions such as Google Drive. It owns YouTube, has developed a line of smartphones and laptops, and has even created self-driving cars.

Google also powers other search engines – including Ask, which is the sixth largest search engine in the world.

The search engine giant is also constantly updating its search engine results page to provide a range of helpful content formats, such as Google’s Featured Snippets.

All hail the mighty Google.

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Small Businesses Are a Great Place to Start Your Career

Does it seem like everyone is jockeying for a job with the Big Four? Or, maybe you've started working for one, and it's not going as well as you thought it would. Sure, you have a generous salary, but perhaps you're tired of working from a windowless cubicle or fighting heavy traffic every day.

If you're burned out by working for large corporations, a job with a small business could be a smart move—and one that could pay huge dividends for your career. Here's how.

What Is a Small Business?

A small business isn't just your local cupcake bakery with four employees. The Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a small business as a company with up to 1,500 employees that generates no more than $41.5 million in annual revenue. And small businesses employ more than 40% of working Americans.

The Advantages of Working for a Small Business

There are numerous benefits to working for a small business. Here are just a few reasons to consider a job with a small company for your next career move.

Expand Your Skill Set

Employees who work for a small business may wear a lot of hats. You might be helping manage the ecommerce store in addition to updating social media and writing ad copy. Or, you might not only work as a UX Designer creating mock-ups of apps, but you could also be helping market the product.

Working for a small business, you'll get to try many new things to build your skill set for future opportunities.

Enjoy More Flexibility

A large, widely-known Fortune 500 company may not be as willing to embrace remote or hybrid work, although many are shifting their views. Attempts to negotiate flexible work options can be difficult since there can be more red tape with corporate policy.

A small business has less bureaucracy, so it can be easier to negotiate the hybrid or remote work options you desire.

Easily Access Leadership

At a large company, there's a slim chance you'll ever interact with senior leaders, like the CEO. However, at a small company, you might be meeting with the CEO regularly to provide updates as the sole marketer. Or, they may hold company town halls to discuss policy changes or goals for the upcoming quarter.

This access allows you to demonstrate your value to senior leadership, which means that working for a small business could provide opportunities to grow your career within the company.

Start Working for a Small Business Today

While a small business may not come with an internationally-known name or large salary, there can be numerous benefits to working for one. A small company can provide you the valuable opportunity to learn new skills, enjoy flexible working options, and meet with senior leadership.

Ready to enjoy the flexibility of working for a small business? Since 2007, FlexJobs has provided job seekers with access to a scam-free jobs board to help them land their next hybrid or remote role. Explore the benefits of a FlexJobs membership today!

Teacher Builds Better Balance for Fun in Retirement

Many people think of retirement as a period in life full of baking cookies, swinging on the porch, and golfing. But for many retirees, that routine might sound like a nice vacation for a little while but becomes tedious on a daily basis.

Karen J. was one of those retirees. She didn't want to settle quietly into her hobbies after she retired from teaching. The desire to fill up some of her time and satisfy her quest for continual learning took her back to the classroom part-time.

However, it didn't take long for her to realize a traditional teaching role in a classroom was no longer an ideal fit for her retirement years. "Being inside the school working with a very limited and tight schedule, I decided I wanted more flexibility," Karen says.

Seeking a Better Work-Life Balance in Retirement

Karen also needed a job that provided more consistent income to add to her savings and boost her hobby fund. "Not getting a salary when schools are closed, on holidays, during vacation weeks, or over the entire summer was a bit stressful!"

But Karen found that it was challenging to find a part-time job that matched her professional skills and experience on her own, which led her to FlexJobs.

Discovering New Options

Through FlexJobs, Karen was able to land not one but two part-time, flexible positions with TutorMe and Littera Education. And together, they fit her needs perfectly. Now, Karen is busy "enjoying more of life by having time for other pursuits, piano, crafts, church activities, or simply being with friends."

"I enjoy being at home because it is quiet. I can take breaks when needed, schedule work, and not feel rushed to get from one place to another by a certain time. Now, I can leave for appointments or just have additional time for my hobbies."

Beyond balancing her time, Karen enjoys staying relevant and learning new skills that align with her lifelong career. "These roles give me additional training since I am a lifelong learner and still would like to help students achieve success."

Advice to Anyone Considering a FlexJobs Membership

Like many retirees, Karen noted that it's a balancing act to fight against age bias and other stereotypes about retirees. She suggests that other retirees update their resumes strategically with a focus on communicating both their experience and desire to keep working.

And even though budgets can be tight in retirement, Karen thinks the paid membership is well worth it. She says, "Try it for three months and keep looking! FlexJobs has a LOT of jobs."

Create Your Own Retirement Rules

There is no standard blueprint for retirement anymore. As Karen discovered, you can create your work-life balance rules.

If you're ready to explore your flexible work options, FlexJobs can help. We post jobs daily in over 50 career categories, and we have an entire team of real people dedicated to verifying those jobs to ensure that our members only see legitimate opportunities. Take the tour and discover all of the ways FlexJobs can support you!

Balance and a Rewarding Career Using FlexJobs

For many, the United States Census Bureau study about commuting comes as no surprise. The Bureau's report shares that the average time spent commuting back and forth to work has grown to almost 30 minutes each way. And for most professionals who work in an office setting, giving up five hours of life each week for a commute is pretty standard.

But Sara S. struggled with a lengthy commute combined with long, draining hours. She realized that something had to change. Her work life was taking a toll on her family and personal commitments and pushing her to professional burnout. It was time to take back control of her life.

Committing to Pursuing Balance

Recognizing that she needed a change, Sara looked for remote roles independently. It was only a short time before she realized she was spending more time sourcing legitimate positions than she was applying for and following up on them.

"I had been looking for a remote position for a few months and wasted so much time and energy on fake job leads." Even with the many awareness campaigns, job seekers like Sara are often overwhelmed with the number of scams targeting job seekers. Fortunately, she found FlexJobs, and her job search became streamlined and productive.

Building a Rewarding Career

Sara knew that her next role needed to do more than create balance. She was also determined that it would be a quality position aligned with her career goals. "I didn't want to step backward in my career or be stuck in a position with no growth opportunities."

Fortunately, Sara remained focused on her goals and found a perfect fit in a fully remote role with UnitedHealth Group. Now, Sara can be more present for her family without having to put her career to the side. "I found an organization I can grow with, professionally and personally."

Thriving Throughout All Areas

If you ask Sara how working remotely has affected her life, she'll tell you she's enjoying building better balance in the larger, more apparent areas of her life. "I have more time for the things that are important to me—my kids, my education goals, and my health," she says.

But like most professionals new to remote work, Sara discovered that work flexibility has also enhanced her life in other areas. "I am saving on gas and auto expenses, eating healthier, and I can wear activewear to work, so I go for a jog or do Pilates on my breaks!"

Advocating for Work Flexibility

Now that Sara is thriving in a meaningful role supporting her work-life balance, she has become an advocate for others to make effective changes in their lives. "I have recommended FlexJobs to so many people. It was well worth purchasing the membership."

Her guidance to others looking for more work freedom? Your job search is much more than tailoring a resume and hitting "submit." Sara says, "Don't forget about the value of networking," also stating that, "A flawless resume is useless if no one ever reads it."

Create Your Own Success Story

We hear from job seekers like Sara every day, sharing the enormous impact that flexible work has made on their lives.

If you're ready to build a better work-life balance, take the tour and discover all of the resources that FlexJobs offers to support you in your job search.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

the inclusive language analysis

 Earlier this year, we added a new feature to our Premium plugin, the inclusive language analysis. Now we’re excited to say that we’re also bringing it to Yoast SEO Free. Why? Because we believe that using inclusive language is essential in making the web a better place.

Taking a stance

We believe that inclusive language is so important that we wanted to make sure that everyone (who wants to) can use this feature. Not only does it make you less likely to exclude people and alienate them with your content, but it’s also becoming more important in SEO every day. If you want to take advantage of this new feature, head to your features settings in Yoast SEO to turn it on. This is also available in Yoast SEO for Shopify.

Does inclusive language matter for SEO?

You might wonder why we added a check for inclusive language in Yoast SEO, a product focused on improving your SEO. Using inclusive language helps you reach a wider audience and avoid alienating potential customers. It aims to create content that’s accessible and understandable to as many people as possible. This leads to more people returning to your website, sharing your content, and even buying what you sell.

It simply helps you to write content that doesn’t exclude people. Content that doesn’t alienate or even offend a portion of your audience. Which, especially as a business owner (or website owner), you don’t want to do. And that can happen easily without you even realizing it. Google also points out the importance of using inclusive language in your content. You can learn more about this in our post about inclusive language and SEO.

The inclusive language analysis in Yoast SEO

This new feature works pretty similarly to our other analyses by giving you real-time feedback on your text with the use of traffic lights. Here is an example of what it looks like when in use:

The inclusive language analysis in Yoast SEO

Personal graphs The personal Knowledge panel

 If you have a site representing a person, you can add the necessary social accounts. Your image will be grabbed from Gravatar. You can set this in Yoast SEO. Not every person will get a Knowledge graph panel — there’s more at play here. Google combines this input with other sources to build a panel. Once you have one, you can claim it and suggest edits.

Articles

Search engines might do cool stuff with articles marked up with structured data. For news publishers, this is important because this might also mean a top spot in the news carousel. For this, you need NewsArticle Schema in your articles and our News SEO plugin provides this for you. Yoast SEO itself, automatically adds regular Article structured data to your articles, including information about the author and how the page connects to the main entity of the site.

Top stories results in Google for the search 'blue robot'
For some outlets, working with structured data helps them get in the Top Stories carousel

Local business

A Google knowledge panel showing business information about Yoast

Our Local SEO plugin takes care of everything you need to get your local business correctly visible in the search engines. You can add opening hours, geographical information, contact information, business locations — including multiple locations under one name, et cetera.

Breadcrumbs

A breadcrumb is a navigational tool that helps searchers and search engines figure out where they are on your site. If you activate this in Yoast SEO, you might get something like this in the search results:

An example of a breadcrumbs rich result
An example of a breadcrumbs rich result

Products

Our WooCommerce plugin adds a cool possibility for getting rich results for products. If you combine this with other structured data, you can get really expansive rich results in search results with ratings and everything. You can also be featured in image search and different product carousels. In addition, Pinterest will pick up the main product on your page more easily.

An example of a rich result with reviews, ratings and product information
An example of product, ratings and reviews schema in action

Structured data is hot

This article, including the adventures of our little robot, aims to show you a small sampling of structured data powered search results. Working with structured data was always hard, but we’re fixing that — and you don’t have to do much for it! If you want to learn more about structured data, we have a free Structured data for beginners course and an Understanding structured data course that goes into more detail.

Yoast SEO 11.0 has a completely rebuilt structured data framework that adds more sensible, and more importantly, interconnected structured data to your site. Search engines can pick this up and do interesting things with. We’re not done yet, because we have a lot more cool stuff coming up!

Read more: Schema structured data is hard, but we’re making it easy

Rich results

 Another reason for implementing structured data is the spectacular shiny stuff our robot heroine promised: rich results. Rich results are enhanced search results and they come in many forms, from star ratings to fully enhanced recipe snippets. Many are powered by structured data, but sometimes, you get them without doing anything — besides having an awesome site, of course.

Here is an example of a structured data powered rich result:

This is a recipe result (not currently supported by Yoast SEO)

With the new structured data implementation in Yoast SEO 11.0, you get a firm foundation to build on. While you’ll have a bigger chance of getting rich results by using Yoast SEO, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get them — in the end, the search engines decide who gets what.

Here’s a selection of what we do at the moment. You can find a complete overview of all Google’s current rich results in the Search Gallery:

Logo and social profiles in the Knowledge graph

If you have an Organization, you can get its logo to show up in the Knowledge panel. The same goes for social profiles. Simply add these in the settings of Yoast SEO and they’ll eventually show up.

A Google knowledge panel showing the Yoast logo and social media buttons
Your organization might get a Knowledge panel like the one above

Electronics Computer

Are you currently in search of a job? Look no further! Americas Technician Services is always on the lookout for talented individuals like y...