diff --git a/include/items.php b/include/items.php
index 4d495d3515..9bb5ceb79c 100644
--- a/include/items.php
+++ b/include/items.php
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ function item_store($arr, $force_parent = false, $notify = false, $dontcache = f
 		logger("Contact-id was missing for post ".$arr["guid"]." from user id ".$uid." - now set to ".$arr["contact-id"], LOGGER_DEBUG);
 	}
 
-	if ($arr["gcontact-id"] == 0) {
+	if (defaults($arr, "gcontact-id", 0) === 0) {
 		/*
 		 * The gcontact should mostly behave like the contact. But is is supposed to be global for the system.
 		 * This means that wall posts, repeated posts, etc. should have the gcontact id of the owner.
diff --git a/include/text.php b/include/text.php
index cbba8d0c5b..5a24c68ed3 100644
--- a/include/text.php
+++ b/include/text.php
@@ -994,7 +994,7 @@ function contact_block() {
 function micropro($contact, $redirect = false, $class = '', $textmode = false) {
 
 	// Use the contact URL if no address is available
-	if ($contact["addr"] == "") {
+	if (!x($contact, "addr")) {
 		$contact["addr"] = $contact["url"];
 	}
 
@@ -1020,7 +1020,7 @@ function micropro($contact, $redirect = false, $class = '', $textmode = false) {
 	}
 
 	return replace_macros(get_markup_template(($textmode)?'micropro_txt.tpl':'micropro_img.tpl'),array(
-		'$click' => (($contact['click']) ? $contact['click'] : ''),
+		'$click' => defaults($contact, 'click', ''),
 		'$class' => $class,
 		'$url' => $url,
 		'$photo' => proxy_url($contact['thumb'], false, PROXY_SIZE_THUMB),
@@ -1202,11 +1202,15 @@ function redir_private_images($a, &$item)
 	}
 }
 
-function put_item_in_cache(&$item, $update = false) {
-
-	if (($item["rendered-hash"] != hash("md5", $item["body"])) || ($item["rendered-hash"] == "") ||
-		($item["rendered-html"] == "") || Config::get("system", "ignore_cache")) {
+function put_item_in_cache(&$item, $update = false)
+{
+	$rendered_hash = defaults($item, 'rendered-hash', '');
 
+	if ($rendered_hash == ''
+		|| $item["rendered-html"] == ""
+		|| $rendered_hash != hash("md5", $item["body"])
+		|| Config::get("system", "ignore_cache")
+	) {
 		// The function "redir_private_images" changes the body.
 		// I'm not sure if we should store it permanently, so we save the old value.
 		$body = $item["body"];
@@ -2026,7 +2030,7 @@ function deindent($text, $chr = "[\t ]", $count = NULL) {
 }
 
 function formatBytes($bytes, $precision = 2) {
-	 $units = array('B', 'KB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB');
+	$units = array('B', 'KB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB');
 
 	$bytes = max($bytes, 0);
 	$pow = floor(($bytes ? log($bytes) : 0) / log(1024));
diff --git a/mod/display.php b/mod/display.php
index 12b10f36f8..c124f48bb5 100644
--- a/mod/display.php
+++ b/mod/display.php
@@ -201,8 +201,9 @@ function display_content(App $a, $update = false, $update_uid = 0) {
 
 	if ($update) {
 		$item_id = $_REQUEST['item_id'];
-		$item = dba::select('item', ['uid'], ['id' => $item_id], ['limit' => 1]);
+		$item = dba::select('item', ['uid', 'parent'], ['id' => $item_id], ['limit' => 1]);
 		$a->profile = array('uid' => intval($item['uid']), 'profile_uid' => intval($item['uid']));
+		$item_parent = $item['parent'];
 	} else {
 		$item_id = (($a->argc > 2) ? $a->argv[2] : 0);
 
@@ -260,7 +261,7 @@ function display_content(App $a, $update = false, $update_uid = 0) {
 
 	$contact_id = 0;
 
-	if (is_array($_SESSION['remote'])) {
+	if (x($_SESSION, 'remote') && is_array($_SESSION['remote'])) {
 		foreach ($_SESSION['remote'] as $v) {
 			if ($v['uid'] == $a->profile['uid']) {
 				$contact_id = $v['cid'];
@@ -294,7 +295,7 @@ function display_content(App $a, $update = false, $update_uid = 0) {
 	}
 	$is_owner = (local_user() && (in_array($a->profile['profile_uid'], [local_user(), 0])) ? true : false);
 
-	if ($a->profile['hidewall'] && !$is_owner && !$remote_contact) {
+	if (x($a->profile, 'hidewall') && !$is_owner && !$remote_contact) {
 		notice(t('Access to this profile has been restricted.') . EOL);
 		return;
 	}
diff --git a/mod/nogroup.php b/mod/nogroup.php
index d80b6d3dbd..9f5425d9eb 100644
--- a/mod/nogroup.php
+++ b/mod/nogroup.php
@@ -41,28 +41,25 @@ function nogroup_content(App $a)
 			$contact_details = Contact::getDetailsByURL($rr['url'], local_user(), $rr);
 
 			$contacts[] = array(
-				'img_hover' => sprintf(t('Visit %s\'s profile [%s]'), $contact_details['name'], $rr['url']),
+				'img_hover' => t('Visit %s\'s profile [%s]', $contact_details['name'], $rr['url']),
 				'edit_hover' => t('Edit contact'),
 				'photo_menu' => Contact::photoMenu($rr),
 				'id' => $rr['id'],
-				'alt_text' => $alt_text,
-				'dir_icon' => $dir_icon,
 				'thumb' => proxy_url($contact_details['thumb'], false, PROXY_SIZE_THUMB),
 				'name' => $contact_details['name'],
 				'username' => $contact_details['name'],
 				'details'       => $contact_details['location'],
 				'tags'          => $contact_details['keywords'],
 				'about'         => $contact_details['about'],
-				'sparkle' => $sparkle,
 				'itemurl' => (($contact_details['addr'] != "") ? $contact_details['addr'] : $rr['url']),
 				'url' => $rr['url'],
-				'network' => network_to_name($rr['network'], $url),
+				'network' => network_to_name($rr['network'], $rr['url']),
 			);
 		}
 	}
 
 	$tpl = get_markup_template("nogroup-template.tpl");
-	$o .= replace_macros(
+	$o = replace_macros(
 		$tpl,
 		array(
 		'$header' => t('Contacts who are not members of a group'),
diff --git a/mod/ping.php b/mod/ping.php
index 930ed54ff9..d8eaa8126f 100644
--- a/mod/ping.php
+++ b/mod/ping.php
@@ -164,8 +164,8 @@ function ping_init(App $a)
 
 			if (intval(Feature::isEnabled(local_user(), 'forumlist_widget'))) {
 				$forum_counts = ForumManager::countUnseenItems();
-				if (DBM::is_result($forums_counts)) {
-					foreach ($forums_counts as $forum_count) {
+				if (DBM::is_result($forum_counts)) {
+					foreach ($forum_counts as $forum_count) {
 						if ($forum_count['count'] > 0) {
 							$forums_unseen[] = $forum_count;
 						}
@@ -490,8 +490,10 @@ function ping_get_notifications($uid)
 
 			$notification["href"] = System::baseUrl() . "/notify/view/" . $notification["id"];
 
-			if ($notification["visible"] && !$notification["spam"]
-				&& !$notification["deleted"] && !is_array($result[$notification["parent"]])
+			if ($notification["visible"]
+				&& !$notification["spam"]
+				&& !$notification["deleted"]
+				&& !(x($result, $notification["parent"]) && is_array($result[$notification["parent"]]))
 			) {
 				// Should we condense the notifications or show them all?
 				if (PConfig::get(local_user(), 'system', 'detailed_notif')) {
diff --git a/mod/videos.php b/mod/videos.php
index bb0e0c237f..c4e5d0aaa4 100644
--- a/mod/videos.php
+++ b/mod/videos.php
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@ use Friendica\Core\Worker;
 use Friendica\Database\DBM;
 use Friendica\Model\Contact;
 
-require_once('include/items.php');
-require_once('include/acl_selectors.php');
-require_once('include/bbcode.php');
-require_once('include/security.php');
-require_once('include/redir.php');
+require_once 'include/items.php';
+require_once 'include/acl_selectors.php';
+require_once 'include/bbcode.php';
+require_once 'include/security.php';
+require_once 'include/redir.php';
 
 function videos_init(App $a) {
 
@@ -44,12 +44,12 @@ function videos_init(App $a) {
 
 		$tpl = get_markup_template("vcard-widget.tpl");
 
-		$vcard_widget .= replace_macros($tpl, array(
+		$vcard_widget = replace_macros($tpl, array(
 			'$name' => $profile['name'],
 			'$photo' => $profile['photo'],
-			'$addr' => (($profile['addr'] != "") ? $profile['addr'] : ""),
+			'$addr' => defaults($profile, 'addr', ''),
 			'$account_type' => $account_type,
-			'$pdesc' => (($profile['pdesc'] != "") ? $profile['pdesc'] : ""),
+			'$pdesc' => defaults($profile, 'pdesc', ''),
 		));
 
 
@@ -280,8 +280,9 @@ function videos_content(App $a) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	// perhaps they're visiting - but not a community page, so they wouldn't have write access
+	$groups = [];
 
+	// perhaps they're visiting - but not a community page, so they wouldn't have write access
 	if(remote_user() && (! $visitor)) {
 		$contact_id = 0;
 		if(is_array($_SESSION['remote'])) {
@@ -317,7 +318,7 @@ function videos_content(App $a) {
 		return;
 	}
 
-	$sql_extra = permissions_sql($owner_uid,$remote_contact,$groups);
+	$sql_extra = permissions_sql($owner_uid, $remote_contact, $groups);
 
 	$o = "";
 
diff --git a/src/Core/Worker.php b/src/Core/Worker.php
index 760b40b1d3..55e2b33a04 100644
--- a/src/Core/Worker.php
+++ b/src/Core/Worker.php
@@ -606,6 +606,7 @@ class Worker
 			$exponent = 3;
 			$slope = $maxworkers / pow($maxsysload, $exponent);
 			$queues = ceil($slope * pow(max(0, $maxsysload - $load), $exponent));
+			$processlist = '';
 
 			if (Config::get('system', 'worker_debug')) {
 				// Create a list of queue entries grouped by their priority
diff --git a/src/Model/Contact.php b/src/Model/Contact.php
index 1b15f1c76d..067a2fda7f 100644
--- a/src/Model/Contact.php
+++ b/src/Model/Contact.php
@@ -662,7 +662,7 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 		if (!DBM::is_result($contact)) {
 			// The link could be provided as http although we stored it as https
 			$ssl_url = str_replace('http://', 'https://', $url);
-			$r = dba::select('contact', array('id', 'avatar-date'), array('`alias` IN (?, ?, ?) AND `uid` = ?', $url, normalise_link($url), $ssl_url, $uid), array('limit' => 1));
+			$r = dba::select('contact', array('id', 'avatar', 'avatar-date'), array('`alias` IN (?, ?, ?) AND `uid` = ?', $url, normalise_link($url), $ssl_url, $uid), array('limit' => 1));
 			$contact = dba::fetch($r);
 			dba::close($r);
 		}
@@ -674,7 +674,7 @@ class Contact extends BaseObject
 			$update_contact = ($contact['avatar-date'] < datetime_convert('', '', 'now -7 days'));
 
 			// We force the update if the avatar is empty
-			if ($contact['avatar'] == '') {
+			if (!x($contact, 'avatar')) {
 				$update_contact = true;
 			}
 
diff --git a/src/Network/Probe.php b/src/Network/Probe.php
index 539803b6e4..8912088cbb 100644
--- a/src/Network/Probe.php
+++ b/src/Network/Probe.php
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ class Probe
 			$data["url"] = $uri;
 		}
 
-		if ($data["photo"] != "") {
+		if (x($data, "photo")) {
 			$data["baseurl"] = matching_url(normalise_link($data["baseurl"]), normalise_link($data["photo"]));
 		} else {
 			$data["photo"] = System::baseUrl().'/images/person-175.jpg';
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ class Probe
 				$data["name"] = $data["nick"];
 			}
 
-			if ($data["name"] == "") {
+			if (!x($data, "name")) {
 				$data["name"] = $data["url"];
 			}
 		}