Work experience and Impact statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Work experience and Impact statement - Essay Example Together with the support groups, we designed simple engineering structures like incinerators for public institutions’ use. On education, the activities acted as an encouragement to young people who are still at school because I conducted presentations, workshops and/or conferences meant to create awareness. In this case the society has embraced engineering to address their social and economical issues. I plan to pursue a career in transportation and cabinet whereby my main aim is to obtain a position that will enable me maximize my strong civil engineering skills in the field of transportation. I would also like to be challenged in an environment that demands engineering innovation, interpersonal, self-directed and team oriented tasks. This mainly entails ensuring smooth operations and design of highways, airports, railways and public transit (Juan et al 87). It will ultimately ensure safe and efficient movement of people and

Analysis of Jet Blue Airline company's Balance sheet Research Paper

Analysis of Jet Blue Airline company's Balance sheet - Research Paper Example In 2010, this trend was converse to what can be seen in 2011; the company’s current assets declined significantly in 2010 ($ 1,360 million) as compared to the level in the year 2009 ($ 1,534 million). Considering this increase in the current assets of the company, it can be argued that the company is making efforts to bring the current assets level back to what has been maintained in the year 2009. On the other hand, the property and equipment section of the total assets also signified a comparatively larger increase in the year 2011 as compared to the previous years, i.e. the property and equipment increased from $ 4,641 million in 2010 to $ 4,860 million in the year 2011. This increase is attributed to the purchase of new flight equipment by the Jet Blue Airline in 2011 and other equipment. This trend can be seen to be followed from the year 2010 in which the company also purchased the flight equipment, but the increase was not as significant as it has been in the year 2011 (Jet Blue Airline). On the other hand, the equity side of the balance sheet for the three years under consideration shows fewer changes in the year 2010 as compared to the financial year 2009 but there is a significant increase in the total liabilities and equity of the company in the year 2011. The overall increase in the equity and liabilities section of the company is $ 44 million in 2010. The long term liabilities of the company declined from $ 2,920 million in 2009 to $ 2,850 million in 2010. On the other hand, almost every item in current liabilities section showed increase in 2010 apart from the current maturities section, which declined considerably, i.e. $ 384 million in 2009 to $ 183 million in 2010. On the other side, the equity section of the balance sheet showed an increase primarily due to increase in the paid up capital in 2010. Keeping in view the liabilities and equity section of the balance sheet for the financial year 2011, the company showed an

Homelessness Policies in the UK and Their Effects

Homelessness Policies in the UK and Their Effects Introduction The issue of homelessness and poverty in general are alwaswill always be on the forefront of national legislation. Although there have been recent claims from as far back as 2005 that homelessness is in slow decline within the United Kingdom, statistics do not necessarily support these claims. This specific policy analysis will seek to address several foundational questions on the issue of homelessness within the United Kingdom. The focus of this analysis will be to assess the current homelessness situation within the United Kingdom, detail past and present policies and their impact upon the homelessness problem and propose possible solutions to these problems. The key questions that will be answered include: How many homeless are their in the United Kingdom? What are current and past policy decisions within this arena? What are the impact of these policies and their implementation? What proposed remedies are there to the homelessness situation? Background Statistics on the reality of the homelessness situation within the United Kingdom is extremely difficult to assess. The transient nature of the homeless population makes them difficult to track especially with the number of people who sleep in living rooms, squatters, and other times of temporary accommodations. Current the most accurate statistics on homelessness comes from the 1996 Housing Act, which defines â€Å"statutory homelessness† or people who apply for homelessness assistance with local authorities and who fit under the current legislative definition of homelessness. Between 2005 and 2006, there has been 193,690 households who have applied for assistance under the Housing Act. From that population only 139,760 were found to be â€Å"legally† homeless under the statutory definition (Housing and the Homeless, 2005). The same study found that 93,910 households were under temporary assistance by June of 2006. From statutory homelessness statistics, many politicia ns have argued that homelessness as an institutional problem is declining. Although these statements are supported by statistics, the reality is that much of homelessness is hidden and unaccounted for. First, there is a large segment of the homeless population who are â€Å"rough sleeping†, this can be loosely defined as individuals who are sleeping in public areas and out of doors. Rough sleepers are extremely difficult to track and through last official counts numbers at 502 in London alone (Homelessness, 2005). Another method of tracking homelessness is through supported accommodations, specifically within hostels. The majority of hostels accept the homeless, current figures place supported accommodations at under 47,000 household units (Homelessness Pages, 2006). The most difficult of all of these categories to track are the â€Å"hidden homeless†. The majority of these homeless individuals who do not show up in official figures, either because they have never appl ied for housing before, do not qualify under legal definitions, families that find temporary solutions for this problem, or squatters. The level of hidden homelessness is especially troubling because the inability to accurately measure their number prevents the government from promoting legislation to meet this social problem. The New Policy Institute conducted research on this issue in 2003. They estimated that there are currently anywhere between 310,000 and 380,000 hidden homeless people within the United Kingdom. Current legislation on homelessness can be accounted for in the Housing Act of 1996 and the Homelessness Act of 2002, both of which attempts to deal with the homelessness. The Housing Act of 1996 was the first official recognition of the homelessness problem. It went as far as to provide a legal â€Å"statutory† definition of homelessness and provided specific agendas for housing allocation among the homeless, placing the responsibility of housing assistance upon local authorities. This policy was a major step to recognizing the problem, however it is was extremely ineffective in its intended purpose. As the above statistics indicate, the majority of the homelessness cannot be easily tracked and do not formally submit requests for governmental aid. AT the same time, many homeless were not eligible under the Housing Act and thus were left unaccounted for. National statistics showed that the homeless problem was declining, by the late 1990s, however, the reality of the situation was that the majority of the homeless were merely left unreported. To confront the new challenges posed by the Housing Act, the Homelessness Act of 2002 was passed. The Homelessness Act has been hailed as a sweeping reform of homelessness and a long term implementation of solutions for this problem. It’s focus has been on placing emphasis on local authorities to review homelessness within their localities, local implementation and review of strategies, and reforms within the framework of how councils themselves allocate housing. Several key changes to the Homeless Act was that it broadened both the definition of homelessness since the Housing Act, and also broadened the responsibilities of local authorities as well. The definition was extended to including those over the age of sixteen, rough sleeping, as well as a formal attempt to find families under temporary housing arrangements. Although this policy has much broader application and resources, it still is an insufficient response to the current state of homelessness. Currently local authorities lack integration with national level agencies to respond to the problems of homelessness, t he lack of coordination on a national level with local agencies causes â€Å"red-tape† delays that often allow homeless families to be left without aid. Another key area is that this policy lacks support provisions, local authorities do not necessarily have the capacities to assess circumstances and implement an operational strategy to provide temporary and permanently housing for those in need. Finally, the Housing Act does not provide a full implementation methodology for solving local area homelessness because they lack the resources and working knowledge to tackle this problem. Findings Current understanding of homelessness is limited because of the inability of government agencies to account for all homeless populations. Large number of unidentified and unaccounted for homelessness within the UK Policies within this arena are not specific enough to deal with the current crisis There is a need for bi-lateral and multi-agency cooperation for progressive problem solving Local support and operations services are lacking because of resource and knowledge limitations Preventive measures are not fully implementable, the root problem of homelessness are not being dealt with Conclusion The only way to provide for definitive solutions for the homelessness crisis to extend our current understanding of the limits of the homelessness problem. Data collection and definitional analysis of homelessness is severely lacking and progress needs to be made at a local level. While certain policy provisions have been enacted to help this problem, the reality is that the Homelessness Act of 2002 have done little to curb the core problems of homelessness. There are many other policy considerations: Provide provisions for mult-agency collaboration to provide for a support network between national and local authorities. Create comprehensive support system for local authorities to operationally provide temporary housing and assistance to those in need. Create a preventive taskforce to understand core of homelessness within local communities and to operationally eliminate these problems. References Policy and information. Homeless Link. 25 July 2007 http://www.homeless.org.uk/policyandinfo>. Homelessness Act Implementation. Homelessness Act 2002. 25 July 2007  http://www.homelessnessact.org.uk/index.cfm?message=Please%20register%20as%20a%20member%20to%20access%20this%20page%20or%20contact%20Shelter%20for%20more%20information%2EfrmLinkpage=%2FReviews%2Findex%2D7%2Df0%2Ecfm>. Housing and Homelessness. Homelessness Pages. 25 July 2007 http://www.homelesspages.org.uk/faqs/..%5Cprods%5Cproducts.asp?prid=218>. Homelessness Act 2002 Homelessness Pages. 25 July 2007 http://www.homelesspages.org.uk/faqs/..%5Cprods%5Cproducts.asp?prid=218>. Local authorities and the homelessness act. Shelter. 25 July 2007 http://england.shelter.org.uk/policy/policy-960.cfm>.

Crossing Over With John Edwards :: Media Television Paranormal Essays

Crossing Over With John Edwards The article that I have picked is from Entertainment Weekly. This article goes into detail about skeptics whose websites debunk all things paranormal. The skeptics focus on John Edwards, a medium, also known as a cold reader (http://skeptics.com.au). In the article, John Edwards is described as having a show named "Crossing Over With John Edwards," a Sci Fi Channel seance that has recently been reincarnated as a nationwide syndicated series. During this hour long show, John Edwards surrounds himself with an audience and picks out people at random. After saying a name out loud, he then finds that person and focuses his attention towards that one individual. Then he starts firing certain questions to this individual only wanting a yes or a no answer. Once he starts to get yes answers, he knows that he is on the right path to getting the individual to believe anything he says. John Edwards has claimed that he can communicate with the dead, but the web skeptics in the next few paragraphs think otherwise. One web skeptic from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (http://csicop.org) describes the technique that explains John Edwards abilities to communicate with the dead and also have the ability to uncover personal details about the dead people, sight unseen. This technique is called "The Art of Cold Reading." One reading by Edward performed on Larry King Live is being dissected on the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (http://csicop.org.) site by Joe Nickell. Now Joe Nickell goes onto describing how John Edwards incorporates "The Art of Cold Reading" into his act. For example, John Edwards poses questions like "Im getting an older male who is there on the other side," in away that is correct but it has a wide scope, it could mean that he is a friend, brother, uncle, father, grandfather take your pick(E.Weekly, Sept. 21,2001, 86). An Australian skeptics website (http://skeptics.com.au), says that the scenario on the Larry King Live show was true, but the lady that called in actually wanted to communicate with her mother. But John Edwards persistant questionings about the gentlemen figure won out because she was so busy wondering who this gentlemen was that she actually forgot she wanted to communicate with her mother. Now cold readers often focus on their "after death communication" by rapid-firing through a number of different possibilities.

Response of the Criminal Justice System to Victims of Corporate Crime

Essay Title: With the use of at least 3 real life stories reported in newspapers, discuss the response of the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice System to victims of corporate crime. There is no time limit on the stories and they may be accessed via the internet. Within this essay I will look to discuss victims of corporate crimes experiences within the Criminal Justice System. In order to do this I will first define the Criminal Justice System and then corporate crime. I will then address the task by using 3 real life stories about victims’ experiences of the operation of the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice System. The Criminal Justice System (CJS) is a series of practices and institutions that are used â€Å"to deliver justice for all, by convicting and punishing the guilty and helping them to stop offending, while protecting the innocent. It is responsible for detecting crime and bringing it to justice; and carrying out the orders of court, such as collecting fines, and supervising community and custodial punishment† (frontline. jsonline. gov. uk) In criminology, corporate crime refers to ‘crimes committed by corporations, or by influential individuals within corporations, where the illegal act is carried out with the intentions of furthering the goals of that organisation. ’ (Newburn. 2007. 946-947) Experiences within the criminal justice system are undoubtedly going to vary with each person’s own experiences and perception. Some may hold the view that it is a just and worthwhile organisation while others will not share the same optimism. For example, there is an article in the Belfast Telegraph about the rape in Colin Glen Forest Park. The incident took place on the 12 April 2008. The article shows the complete dissatisfaction and faith within the criminal justice system but praises the work of the PSNI. The victim stated that the days between her reporting the crime and attending the trial she had no contact or information relating to the trail until just 2 week before hand â€Å"The criminal justice process leading up to the trial was not much better from a victim's perspective. I did not hear from my prosecuting barristers until two weeks before the scheduled trial — leaving me to spend 11 months in confused anxiety about the prospect of testifying. † â€Å"How can rape victims be expected to assist the criminal justice system in convicting their attacker, when there isn't even a proper counseling service to help them through this very harrowing process? †(www. belfasttelegraph. com) It is easily seen from this specific example that the criminal justice system is simply focused on one thing, which to convict the criminal and punish them accordingly. There seems to be no regard to the victims feelings, concerns or anxieties, but simply referrals and advice, on where to go to achieve help and comfort in an attempt to deal with the traumatic event of being raped. â€Å"No one told me that a service like Victim Support existed until a few weeks before my trial (and 10 months after my attack). † (www. belfasttelegraph. com) (2009) It has been seen as standard practice to observe that the ‘victim’ has long been the forgotten party in criminal justice as the Colin Glen Forest Park victim’s story demonstrates. Victims appear very often appear as complainants and applicants for compensation, or as a witness giving evidence, but thereafter they are unfortunately very much neglected. It is only recently that the victim now forms the focus of a substantial area of enquiry within criminology. There is now a requirement for sufficient attention to be paid to the needs and rights of the victims. (Newburn. 2007. Pg. 342) Crimes vary in their nature and therefore the impact of the crime on the victim can vary also. Goodey (2005: 121-2) lists a range of emotional, material and social needs that victims may need to have met in the aftermath of crime. This list consists of: reassurance and counselling; medical assistance; financial and practical assistance to secure property; information about case programs; guidance about what to expect in court; the chance to express how the crime affected them; and information about the release date of the offender. (Newburn. 2007. Pg. 353) In is only in recent years that these needs of victims have been taken into account and there is now such a thing called ‘victims policy’. This policy ensures that the needs of the victims are being met and there is now a substantial raft of services now provided to protect the victim and their rights. (Newburn. 2007. Pg. 358) Duff (1988) argues that there are two discernible trends which illustrate the impact of the ‘victim movement’ on the Criminal Justice System. The first is the introduction of state funded compensation schemes. These schemes had the aim of trying to strengthen the relationship between the offender and the state. The second was the introduction of compensation by the offender to the victim. This aimed to increase the importance of the victim-offender relationship. This therefore became the start of criminal injuries compensation, and it was through these schemes that the needs of the victims were officially being recognised. (Newburn. 2007. Pg. 358) In 1959, the government published ‘Penal Practice in a Changing Society’; this is what resulted in the setting-up of a party which were to examine the proposal of introducing the schemes for payment of compensation to victims of violence. The proposal was then passed and was called the ‘Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme’, also known as CICS. It came into operation on the 1st August 1964. (Newburn. 2007. Pg. 358) An example of a recent payment of compensation to a victim is that of Lucas Da Costa, 32, while working for Lindon foods meat processing company, suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by 255 kilos of crates as he lifted them using an electric pallet truck at the Granville Industrial Estate plant on 25 February 2010. The father-of-four was rushed to hospital and then transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he was treated for bleeding onto the brain as well as multiple fractures to his skull and facial bones. Linden Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to breaches of health and safety legislation at a previous hearing at Omagh Crown Court, in the case which was brought against the company by the Health and Safety Executive. The company were ordered to pay ? 25,000 after an employee was left â€Å"close to a vegetative state†. (www. u. tv. co. uk) Also Northern Ireland Water has been fined ? 2,000 after pleading guilty to polluting a major river. A blockage in the sewerage system caused poisonous discharge to pollute the Six Mile Water River at Clotworthy Bridge in Antrim. The fine was imposed on 4th May 2011 at Antrim Magistrates Court where NI Water pleaded guilty to making a polluting discharge to a waterway and breach of consent. Antrim mayor Pam Lewis welcomed the fine saying she hoped it would act as a deterrent. (www. belfasttelegraph. co. uk) In another incident, two construction companies have been fined over the collapse of a building owned by the Law Society in Belfast. The building collapsed in March 2008, injuring six workers. JH Turkington and Sons Ltd and Ripley Developments Ltd were fined a total of ? 1,000 for health and safety breaches. A Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) investigation found that the collapse of a temporary supporting structure, known as false work, caused the incident. It was estimated that approximately 150 tonnes of concrete, 25 tonnes of steel reinforcing bars and four tonnes of false work all came down in the collapse. (www. bbc. co. uk) This increased recognition of victims needs developed even further; there became an increased desire to protect children who had been victims. Many of the child victim’s experiences were particularly traumatic itself; never mind the trauma of having to give evidence in court also. After numerous protests, the requirement in ‘The 1988 Criminal Justice Act’ was abolished that stated that the child had to give evidence in court. This was enforced in order to protect the child and instead the use of video recordings was introduced. (Newburn. 2007. Pg. 362-363) In 1986 in government then took the decision to provide core funding to victim support. In the first years the scheme mainly focused on the victims of conventional crimes, such as burglary. During the 1980s they became progressively more involved in providing support for a wider range of victims. This came to include victims of racial harassment, families of murder victims, rape and serious sexual assault. Victim support demanded that victims had the right: to be heard; to be kept informed about the progress of ‘their case’; be protected by law enforcement agencies; to receive compensation as well as ‘respect, recognition and support’. Newburn. 2007. Pg. 363-364) This led to an increased interest in victims within the criminal justice system. Victims support started running a series of victim/witness support programmes in seven Crown Court centres, and now, the organisation provides a witness service in every criminal court in England and Wales. The first victim’s charter was published in 1990. This was the first acknowledgement that som e victims may have entitlements (not rights) because of their victimisation. In 1996 the second victim’s charter was published. The charter covered police responsibilities for providing information to victims, familiarisation with the courts, together with details of the complaints procedures if the standards set out were not met. From this charter victims could expect to get: contact details for police officers and leaflets on ‘Victims of Crime’, information on case progress, chance to explain how the crime affected them, information on the offenders release, treatment and support if attending court as a witness, expenses for attending court, and also emotional and practical support. (Newburn. 007. Pg. 364-365) In 2002, a White Paper, ‘Justice For All’, was published by the Home Office. Its aim, it said, was to rebalance the Criminal Justice System in favour of the victims, witnesses and communities. Their aim was to increase detection rates, reduce delays, and increase the conviction rates. (Newburn. 2007. Pg. 365 & 669) Northern Ireland has numerous areas in which victims can rece ive support. These include the PSNI Victim support, The Public Prosecution Service, NICS, PBNI Victim Information Scheme, and The Prisoner Release Victim Information Scheme. These aim to help people affected by any type of crime. They provide emotional support, information and practical help to victims, witnesses and others affected by crime. (www. victimsupportni. co. uk) The Northern Ireland Justice Minister made this response in July 2010. â€Å"Northern Ireland must have a Criminal Justice System which puts victims and witnesses at the core. As part of this, it is of paramount importance that victims are provided with the necessary support and that they have confidence in the service they are receiving†. Although many improvements to victim support had been made, there are still many changes to be made. The NI Criminal Justice System has made commitments for 2010/2011 to: provide victims and witnesses with easier access to information; ensure that specific and timely information is provided to victims and witnesses in relation to their cases; continue to work with relevant voluntary agencies; recognise and be responsive to victims and witness’ individual needs and also to make victims and witness’ views made know to the CJS. It seems to be a simple solution to ensure that the victims of crimes should be put at the fore front of the investigation, ensuring that they receive the best care and guidance possible in an attempt to raise the comfort and awareness of the conviction process, therefore raising the belief in the criminal justice which in turn, will allow other victims to follow suit thus raising the level the convictions, instead of concentrating on just the legal aspects of getting the conviction, which seems to be the case at present. People are very often not aware of the services and support groups available to them in the event of a crime, and they are relaying on the people within the legal profession and their knowledge and the CJS to inform them of such services. It’s bad enough that they have to suffer at the hands of the criminals, but to suffer at the hands of the criminal justice system is totally unacceptable. It is beyond doubt that the criminal justice system needs a reform, so that it takes into account all aspects of crimes, from the victim to the sentencing. They may see an increase in assistance from the victims if they focus their attention on them rather than being simply focused on one thing, which to convict the criminal and punish them accordingly. Bibliography Newburn, T. (2007) Criminology. Cullompton. Willan Publishing. (frontline. cjsonline. gov. uk) http://www. belfasttelegraph. co. uk/lifestyle/bt-woman/as-a-tourist-in-belfast-my-rape-was-shock-news-so-why-did-you-forget-about-it-and-me-so-quickly-14484709. html#ixzz15CJWLv3H

My Favorite Restaurant

I don’t like homemade food too much so I often tend to go out to have lunch or dinner; I’m not talking about fast food, in fact I don’t like fast food that much. So the first place that always popped to my mind is the Ponto Alto restaurant; it is my favorite restaurant in town for many reasons. I visit this restaurant 2 to 3 per week; it is located on a hill in the Bahsass area in front of the sea, so you can imagine how beautiful the view is up there. This is the biggest reason why I like this restaurant the view is amazing especially during the sunset!One can sit-down and have their food while looking to its beautiful view, it is so relieving. Of course since I go there a lot the food must be great. It serves Italian food such as pasta and pizza and also large varieties of chicken and beef with its remarkable sauce. It’s not like fast-food it much closer to home food but more delicious and very healthy also. The dà ©cor and design inside are very creati ve; it has a large painting on the ceiling with cheerful colors that draws a smile on your face every time you look up and see it.Moreover, the restaurant also play many classical English and French music, which make you relax and comfortable! Lastly all the servants in the restaurant are both warm and hospitable they make you feel like at home. In conclusion, I think that Ponto Alto is the perfect place to eat and have a quite time especially if you are out with the wife or girl friend. I don’t hesitate for a second to recommend anyone to visit and try this unique restaurant.