For this Assignment, download and read the "LS312_Unit4_AmtrakCaseStudy" file from Doc Sharing. Prepare a 3-page analysis that answers the following questions:
Introduction
· Who are the stakeholders in this case?
· What are the interests of the stakeholders?
Corporate Social Responsibility
· What was this corporation's corporate social responsibility to the various stakeholders in this case before the incident?
· What is this corporation's corporate social responsibility to the various stakeholders in this case after the incident?
Conclusion and Recommendation
· Based on the above, as well as what you have learned about ethical theories and foundations of moral development, what is your final recommendation to the corporation regarding how to proceed after the incident?
· Your recommendation should be at least 2 paragraphs and include at least three reasons, with specific references to authoritative sources, stating how you arrived at that conclusion.
Directions for Submitting Your Assignment
Be sure to organize your paper and demonstrate college-level communication through the composition of original materials in Standard American English. Remember to review the directions below and the grading rubric to ensure you receive full credit for this Assignment. Before you submit your Assignment, you should save your work on your computer in a location and with a name that you will remember. Make sure your Assignment is in the appropriate format (.doc or .docx); then, when you are ready, you may submit on the Dropbox page.
Turnitin® Resource
A valuable tool used to promote academic integrity in scholarly work is Turnitin. Turnitin is a service that evaluates originality of submitted work and supports the development of scholarly writing skills. Students’ work is compared to material from the Internet, journals, textbooks, and other Kaplan and non-Kaplan student submissions. Turnitin helps students avoid plagiarism through self-identification and correction of errors.
Turnitin is integrated into this Assignment. After an Assignment is submitted to the Dropbox, the paper will be analyzed by Turnitin and an originality report will be available for review. Originality reports provide a summary of matching or highly similar text found in a submitted paper, and will help you identify content that should be corrected prior to the final submission. When an originality report is available for viewing, an icon will appear in the report column of the Assignment Inbox. Originality reports are only available in the Inbox. For this reason, you will need to download the report prior to the grading of the Assignment. To do this, click on the print icon at the bottom of the originality report. This will prepare a readable, PDF version of the originality report you can save to your computer.
An essential component of this process is the opportunity for students to submit the Assignment to the Dropbox prior to the Assignment due date. The key here is all corrections.
Discuss bounded rationality. In your discussion, explain the.docxduketjoy27252
Discuss bounded rationality. In your discussion, explain the term as well as its importance in rational managerial decision-making.
150 words
Consider the last decision that you have made (purchase of an automobile, purchase of a home, seeking a new job, etc.). Then, discuss that decision in terms of the rational decision making model. How could you have improved your decision?
150 words
Visit the website http://motherjones.com/politics/1977/09/pinto-madness and read the article concerning the Ford Pinto. How did the decision making process help to create the problems for the Ford Pinto? Do these decisions represent optimizing behavior or satisficing on the part of Ford? If you were Lee Iacocca, would you have decided differently? How?
150 words
Define and discuss the differences between vision and mission statements.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length
Discuss the importance of the implementation phase of strategic management. Support your answer with at least two examples and detail where applicable.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
For this Assignment, download the "LS312_Unit4_AmtrakCaseStudy" file from Doc Sharing. Write a 1–2 page paper that answers the following questions:
Introduction
Who are the stakeholders in this case?
What are the interests of the stakeholders?
Review the below checklist to ensure you receive full credit for this Assignment.
Corporate Social Responsibility
What is this corporation's social corporate responsibility in this case for the four areas of corporate social responsibility?
Legal
Economic
Ethical
Philanthropic
Conclusion and Recommendation
Based on the above, as well as what you have learned about ethical theories and foundations of moral development, what is your final recommendation to the corporation regarding this case? Your recommendation should be at least two paragraphs and include at least three reasons, with specific references to course material, stating how you arrived at that conclusion.
On September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, the
pride of Amtrak, glided swiftly along through the
warm, fall night. A dense fog hugged the country-
side. Because there was nothing to see through the
train’s windows, many passengers dozed peacefully,
lulled to sleep by the gentle, rhythmic, clickety-clack
of iron wheels passing over jointed rails. Crewmem-
bers roamed the aisles and halls making sure that
those guests still awake were accommodated and
comfortable. In less than a second, this peaceful
scene was shattered by a thundering roar as seats
were torn from the floor and passengers were sent
flying through the cars. At 2:53 a.m. Amtrak’s only
transcontinental passenger train, the Sunset Limited,
plunged into Big Bayou Canot, killing 47 passen-
gers. Eight minutes earlier at 2:45 a.m., a towboat,
pushing six barges and lost in a dense fog, unknow-
ingly bumped into the Big Bayou Canot Bridge
knocking the track out of.
On September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, thepride of Amtra.docxhopeaustin33688
On September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, the
pride of Amtrak, glided swiftly along through the
warm, fall night. A dense fog hugged the country-
side. Because there was nothing to see through the
train’s windows, many passengers dozed peacefully,
lulled to sleep by the gentle, rhythmic, clickety-clack
of iron wheels passing over jointed rails. Crewmem-
bers roamed the aisles and halls making sure that
those guests still awake were accommodated and
comfortable. In less than a second, this peaceful
scene was shattered by a thundering roar as seats
were torn from the floor and passengers were sent
flying through the cars. At 2:53 a.m. Amtrak’s only
transcontinental passenger train, the Sunset Limited,
plunged into Big Bayou Canot, killing 47 passen-
gers. Eight minutes earlier at 2:45 a.m., a towboat,
pushing six barges and lost in a dense fog, unknow-
ingly bumped into the Big Bayou Canot Bridge
knocking the track out of alignment. The train, trav-
eling at a speed of 72 mph in the dense fog, derailed
as a result, burying the engine and four cars five sto-
ries deep in the mud and muck of Big Bayou
Canot.4,7,8,10,12,13
Bruce Barrett, a locomotive engineer, has
described what might have been occurring in the cab
of Amtrak engine Number 819 prior to the wreck.2
This scenario is based upon my 17 years’ experi-
ence as a locomotive engineer on a major
western railroad and upon the compilation of
bits and pieces of data from public records and
accounts of the accident.
Engineer Michael Vincent was at the controls
of the two-week-old General Electric “AMD-
103” locomotive. Engineer Billy Rex Hall was in
the cab with Vincent along with Ernest Lamar
Russ who was qualifying as an AMTRAK engi-
neer on this portion of the run.
I can almost see the instrument lights as they
cast a soft, orange glow across the cab of the loco-
motive, highlighted by the light from the train’s
headlight bouncing off the impenetrable fog. I
can hear the three men calling out the colors of
the railroad signals (sort of like traffic lights for
automobiles) as they came into view and dis-
cussing the restrictions that would affect the train
over the next few miles. The new locomotive,
shaped like a bullet, would have been the topic of
conversation. Engineers enjoy comparing the “old
days” with the new technology as it responds to
the movement of their hands on the controls as
the train clipped along at 103.53 feet per second.
While the headlight beam may have reached
1,000 feet in clear weather, given the dense fog,
the visibility would more likely have been less
than 100 feet. As the Bayou Canot Bridge
appeared in the fog, they would have had no hint
of what lay ahead. Even if the headlight had
detected the slight shift of the tracks to the left,
there would have been less than a second for Vin-
cent to react. I can see his hand as he reached too
late for the emergency brake as the 150-ton loco-
motive turned into an uncontrollable beast and
lurched to the left, starting.
Maumee river rr_lift_bridge_train_day2015Jerry Wicks
The following presentation makes the case for a second, multi-track railroad bridge to be built across the Maumee River near the Toledo Union Amtrak Station.
The current bridge, which is owned by Norfolk Southern, is over a century old and handles well over 100 freight and passenger trains a day. Freight rail traffic on the bridge is forecast to steadily increase in the coming decades and the demand for additional use by passenger trains - both long-haul and intercity commuter rail - is likely to grow in the next few years.
In addition to a potential structural failure, there exists several external risks that could result in a catastrophic failure of the current bridge. These risks include ship collision, bridge-operator error, train derailment and sabotage or international terrorism.
Since there are no practical alternate routes for freight or for the majority of passenger trains traveling east and west between Chicago and the east coast, the bridge is a “single point of failure” for both the freight and passenger rail systems.
The loss of the bridge would pose a logistical nightmare for the rail distribution systems, and if that loss were protracted could lead to a substantial contraction in the economies of the region and nation.
There is a solution. It may be possible to construct a second bridge near the present crossing and do so without disrupting current rail or shipping service. A second bridge would supply additional tracks for freight and passenger rail, plus, it would serve national security needs by providing a strategic redundancy at one of America’s key rail crossings.
Discuss bounded rationality. In your discussion, explain the.docxduketjoy27252
Discuss bounded rationality. In your discussion, explain the term as well as its importance in rational managerial decision-making.
150 words
Consider the last decision that you have made (purchase of an automobile, purchase of a home, seeking a new job, etc.). Then, discuss that decision in terms of the rational decision making model. How could you have improved your decision?
150 words
Visit the website http://motherjones.com/politics/1977/09/pinto-madness and read the article concerning the Ford Pinto. How did the decision making process help to create the problems for the Ford Pinto? Do these decisions represent optimizing behavior or satisficing on the part of Ford? If you were Lee Iacocca, would you have decided differently? How?
150 words
Define and discuss the differences between vision and mission statements.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length
Discuss the importance of the implementation phase of strategic management. Support your answer with at least two examples and detail where applicable.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
For this Assignment, download the "LS312_Unit4_AmtrakCaseStudy" file from Doc Sharing. Write a 1–2 page paper that answers the following questions:
Introduction
Who are the stakeholders in this case?
What are the interests of the stakeholders?
Review the below checklist to ensure you receive full credit for this Assignment.
Corporate Social Responsibility
What is this corporation's social corporate responsibility in this case for the four areas of corporate social responsibility?
Legal
Economic
Ethical
Philanthropic
Conclusion and Recommendation
Based on the above, as well as what you have learned about ethical theories and foundations of moral development, what is your final recommendation to the corporation regarding this case? Your recommendation should be at least two paragraphs and include at least three reasons, with specific references to course material, stating how you arrived at that conclusion.
On September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, the
pride of Amtrak, glided swiftly along through the
warm, fall night. A dense fog hugged the country-
side. Because there was nothing to see through the
train’s windows, many passengers dozed peacefully,
lulled to sleep by the gentle, rhythmic, clickety-clack
of iron wheels passing over jointed rails. Crewmem-
bers roamed the aisles and halls making sure that
those guests still awake were accommodated and
comfortable. In less than a second, this peaceful
scene was shattered by a thundering roar as seats
were torn from the floor and passengers were sent
flying through the cars. At 2:53 a.m. Amtrak’s only
transcontinental passenger train, the Sunset Limited,
plunged into Big Bayou Canot, killing 47 passen-
gers. Eight minutes earlier at 2:45 a.m., a towboat,
pushing six barges and lost in a dense fog, unknow-
ingly bumped into the Big Bayou Canot Bridge
knocking the track out of.
On September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, thepride of Amtra.docxhopeaustin33688
On September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, the
pride of Amtrak, glided swiftly along through the
warm, fall night. A dense fog hugged the country-
side. Because there was nothing to see through the
train’s windows, many passengers dozed peacefully,
lulled to sleep by the gentle, rhythmic, clickety-clack
of iron wheels passing over jointed rails. Crewmem-
bers roamed the aisles and halls making sure that
those guests still awake were accommodated and
comfortable. In less than a second, this peaceful
scene was shattered by a thundering roar as seats
were torn from the floor and passengers were sent
flying through the cars. At 2:53 a.m. Amtrak’s only
transcontinental passenger train, the Sunset Limited,
plunged into Big Bayou Canot, killing 47 passen-
gers. Eight minutes earlier at 2:45 a.m., a towboat,
pushing six barges and lost in a dense fog, unknow-
ingly bumped into the Big Bayou Canot Bridge
knocking the track out of alignment. The train, trav-
eling at a speed of 72 mph in the dense fog, derailed
as a result, burying the engine and four cars five sto-
ries deep in the mud and muck of Big Bayou
Canot.4,7,8,10,12,13
Bruce Barrett, a locomotive engineer, has
described what might have been occurring in the cab
of Amtrak engine Number 819 prior to the wreck.2
This scenario is based upon my 17 years’ experi-
ence as a locomotive engineer on a major
western railroad and upon the compilation of
bits and pieces of data from public records and
accounts of the accident.
Engineer Michael Vincent was at the controls
of the two-week-old General Electric “AMD-
103” locomotive. Engineer Billy Rex Hall was in
the cab with Vincent along with Ernest Lamar
Russ who was qualifying as an AMTRAK engi-
neer on this portion of the run.
I can almost see the instrument lights as they
cast a soft, orange glow across the cab of the loco-
motive, highlighted by the light from the train’s
headlight bouncing off the impenetrable fog. I
can hear the three men calling out the colors of
the railroad signals (sort of like traffic lights for
automobiles) as they came into view and dis-
cussing the restrictions that would affect the train
over the next few miles. The new locomotive,
shaped like a bullet, would have been the topic of
conversation. Engineers enjoy comparing the “old
days” with the new technology as it responds to
the movement of their hands on the controls as
the train clipped along at 103.53 feet per second.
While the headlight beam may have reached
1,000 feet in clear weather, given the dense fog,
the visibility would more likely have been less
than 100 feet. As the Bayou Canot Bridge
appeared in the fog, they would have had no hint
of what lay ahead. Even if the headlight had
detected the slight shift of the tracks to the left,
there would have been less than a second for Vin-
cent to react. I can see his hand as he reached too
late for the emergency brake as the 150-ton loco-
motive turned into an uncontrollable beast and
lurched to the left, starting.
Maumee river rr_lift_bridge_train_day2015Jerry Wicks
The following presentation makes the case for a second, multi-track railroad bridge to be built across the Maumee River near the Toledo Union Amtrak Station.
The current bridge, which is owned by Norfolk Southern, is over a century old and handles well over 100 freight and passenger trains a day. Freight rail traffic on the bridge is forecast to steadily increase in the coming decades and the demand for additional use by passenger trains - both long-haul and intercity commuter rail - is likely to grow in the next few years.
In addition to a potential structural failure, there exists several external risks that could result in a catastrophic failure of the current bridge. These risks include ship collision, bridge-operator error, train derailment and sabotage or international terrorism.
Since there are no practical alternate routes for freight or for the majority of passenger trains traveling east and west between Chicago and the east coast, the bridge is a “single point of failure” for both the freight and passenger rail systems.
The loss of the bridge would pose a logistical nightmare for the rail distribution systems, and if that loss were protracted could lead to a substantial contraction in the economies of the region and nation.
There is a solution. It may be possible to construct a second bridge near the present crossing and do so without disrupting current rail or shipping service. A second bridge would supply additional tracks for freight and passenger rail, plus, it would serve national security needs by providing a strategic redundancy at one of America’s key rail crossings.
HSH - The Hydrogen Super Highway Elevated Maglev Rail SystemJustin Sutton
What is the Interstate Traveler Company's Hydrogen Super Highway? It is a collection of vital municipal utilities bundled into what we call the Conduit Cluster providing a first of its kind full integration of solar powered hydrogen production and distribution system supporting a high speed magnetic levitation ( MagLev ) on-demand public transit network built along the right of way of the US Interstate Highway Systems, and any other permissible right of way where such a machine would be of benefit. The Hydrogen Super Highway, also known as the HSH, is accessed by Traveler Stations that are built within the right of way of the Interstate Highway within the land locked real-estate of the clover leaf interchanges providing maximum ease of access for people who live anywhere near the Interstate Highway. The HSH is much more than just a high speed rail system.
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts – Project Issue Analysis It was lateLynellBull52
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts – Project Issue Analysis
It was late in the afternoon of September 13, 2018. Professor Rich Maltzman looked up, startled, as three sharp raps on his car window interrupted the online course he was teaching from his car. Why from his car? Everyone in the town of Andover (Massachusetts, USA) had already been told to get out of their their homes, and they awaited word from the police – should they leave the town altogether?
Yes! The three raps were from the Professor’s wife, and she was animatedly and urgently conveying the message: “we have to LEAVE TOWN. NOW!”
The urgency was coming from the breaking story so well-summarized by the podcast series, “Fire in the Valley”. Fires and explosions were occurring in over 100 structures in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts, north of Boston, in particular in the City of Lawrence and the towns of North Andover and Andover, Massachusetts, where the Professor and his family reside.
It was hard for residents to get the important details. Local news stations were covering the story, but the information was scattered and hard to decipher meaningfully. The Twitter feed from Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, the utility that operates the natural gas lines that were involved had this post on their web page for hours during the incident:
This was of little help – and if it wasn’t so sad, it would actually be funny.
The local police were doing a better job posting advice and making announcements and sending out reverse 911 calls to residents. This is what triggered the raps on the windows and yielded the decision for Professor Maltzman to prematurely end his class, which ironically was about qualitative decision making.
This tweet from the authorities made things much more clear:
What happened here?
So, the Professor and his family headed to Cape Cod to stay with relatives – they were very lucky to have this option available. Others were not so lucky. See this videofrom Rabbi Howard Mandell who tells his story, which starts with a 6- foot flame emanating from his boiler’s gas supply.
A tremendous write-up of the story comes from an article from the June, 2019 issue of Popular Mechanics – an article entitled, “The Day the Town Blew Up”.
Here the key extract:
…On the Salem Street side of the O’Connell South Common (in Lawrence, Massachusetts), a public park, a contractor removes a length of cast-iron pipe, caps it, and sets it aside.
Feeney Brothers Utility Services (“Providing Underground Utility Services since 1988”) has a permit to open up a two-foot-wide, 340-foot-long stretch of Salem Street, for the purpose of “completing gas main tie-ins and retirement of dual cast-iron gas mains.” Feeney Brothers is a family-owned operation with seven hundred employees. They’ve worked extensively not only for Columbia Gas but also for the region’s other major natural-gas supplier, Eversource. In recent years, gas utilities in Massachusetts have increasingly r ...
 Assignment 1 Discussion Question Prosocial Behavior and Altrui.docxbudbarber38650

Assignment 1: Discussion Question: Prosocial Behavior and Altruism
By Saturday, July 11, 2015, respond to the discussion question. Submit your responses to the appropriate Discussion Area. Use the same Discussion Area to comment on your classmates' submissions by Saturday, July 11, 2015, and continue the discussion until Wednesday, July 15, 2015 of the week.
Consider and discuss how the phenomena of prosocial behavior and pure altruism relate to each other and how they differ from each other.
Pure altruism is a specific kind of prosocial behavior where your sole motivation is to help a person in need without seeking benefit for yourself. It is often viewed as a truly selfless form of behavior.
Provide an example each of prosocial behavior and pure altruism.

.
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss c.docxbudbarber38650
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss cover? How does this unit correlate to modern times?
● what problems were apparent in urban America?
● what were the three main streams of immigration up through the 1920s? What are "birds of passage?" How were Japanese and Korean immigrants different than Chinese immigrants? What is meant by "pale of settlement" and "pogrom."
● What is meant by "Americanization" and how did this process occur?
● What were the various forms of popular culture during this era, and why were they important?
● what forms of popular culture did working women enjoy? How did middle-class reformers react to these forms?
● what is meant by "the new woman" and "mothers to society?"
● How did middle-class men generally respond to the changing times? Why were people like Eugene Sandow and Harry Houdini so significant at this time?
● What were some of the examples of nativism at this time?
● What was the Social Gospel and what are settlement houses?
.
More Related Content
Similar to For this Assignment, download and read the LS312_Unit4_AmtrakCa.docx
HSH - The Hydrogen Super Highway Elevated Maglev Rail SystemJustin Sutton
What is the Interstate Traveler Company's Hydrogen Super Highway? It is a collection of vital municipal utilities bundled into what we call the Conduit Cluster providing a first of its kind full integration of solar powered hydrogen production and distribution system supporting a high speed magnetic levitation ( MagLev ) on-demand public transit network built along the right of way of the US Interstate Highway Systems, and any other permissible right of way where such a machine would be of benefit. The Hydrogen Super Highway, also known as the HSH, is accessed by Traveler Stations that are built within the right of way of the Interstate Highway within the land locked real-estate of the clover leaf interchanges providing maximum ease of access for people who live anywhere near the Interstate Highway. The HSH is much more than just a high speed rail system.
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts – Project Issue Analysis It was lateLynellBull52
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts – Project Issue Analysis
It was late in the afternoon of September 13, 2018. Professor Rich Maltzman looked up, startled, as three sharp raps on his car window interrupted the online course he was teaching from his car. Why from his car? Everyone in the town of Andover (Massachusetts, USA) had already been told to get out of their their homes, and they awaited word from the police – should they leave the town altogether?
Yes! The three raps were from the Professor’s wife, and she was animatedly and urgently conveying the message: “we have to LEAVE TOWN. NOW!”
The urgency was coming from the breaking story so well-summarized by the podcast series, “Fire in the Valley”. Fires and explosions were occurring in over 100 structures in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts, north of Boston, in particular in the City of Lawrence and the towns of North Andover and Andover, Massachusetts, where the Professor and his family reside.
It was hard for residents to get the important details. Local news stations were covering the story, but the information was scattered and hard to decipher meaningfully. The Twitter feed from Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, the utility that operates the natural gas lines that were involved had this post on their web page for hours during the incident:
This was of little help – and if it wasn’t so sad, it would actually be funny.
The local police were doing a better job posting advice and making announcements and sending out reverse 911 calls to residents. This is what triggered the raps on the windows and yielded the decision for Professor Maltzman to prematurely end his class, which ironically was about qualitative decision making.
This tweet from the authorities made things much more clear:
What happened here?
So, the Professor and his family headed to Cape Cod to stay with relatives – they were very lucky to have this option available. Others were not so lucky. See this videofrom Rabbi Howard Mandell who tells his story, which starts with a 6- foot flame emanating from his boiler’s gas supply.
A tremendous write-up of the story comes from an article from the June, 2019 issue of Popular Mechanics – an article entitled, “The Day the Town Blew Up”.
Here the key extract:
…On the Salem Street side of the O’Connell South Common (in Lawrence, Massachusetts), a public park, a contractor removes a length of cast-iron pipe, caps it, and sets it aside.
Feeney Brothers Utility Services (“Providing Underground Utility Services since 1988”) has a permit to open up a two-foot-wide, 340-foot-long stretch of Salem Street, for the purpose of “completing gas main tie-ins and retirement of dual cast-iron gas mains.” Feeney Brothers is a family-owned operation with seven hundred employees. They’ve worked extensively not only for Columbia Gas but also for the region’s other major natural-gas supplier, Eversource. In recent years, gas utilities in Massachusetts have increasingly r ...
Similar to For this Assignment, download and read the LS312_Unit4_AmtrakCa.docx (20)
 Assignment 1 Discussion Question Prosocial Behavior and Altrui.docxbudbarber38650

Assignment 1: Discussion Question: Prosocial Behavior and Altruism
By Saturday, July 11, 2015, respond to the discussion question. Submit your responses to the appropriate Discussion Area. Use the same Discussion Area to comment on your classmates' submissions by Saturday, July 11, 2015, and continue the discussion until Wednesday, July 15, 2015 of the week.
Consider and discuss how the phenomena of prosocial behavior and pure altruism relate to each other and how they differ from each other.
Pure altruism is a specific kind of prosocial behavior where your sole motivation is to help a person in need without seeking benefit for yourself. It is often viewed as a truly selfless form of behavior.
Provide an example each of prosocial behavior and pure altruism.

.
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss c.docxbudbarber38650
● what is name of the new unit and what topics will Professor Moss cover? How does this unit correlate to modern times?
● what problems were apparent in urban America?
● what were the three main streams of immigration up through the 1920s? What are "birds of passage?" How were Japanese and Korean immigrants different than Chinese immigrants? What is meant by "pale of settlement" and "pogrom."
● What is meant by "Americanization" and how did this process occur?
● What were the various forms of popular culture during this era, and why were they important?
● what forms of popular culture did working women enjoy? How did middle-class reformers react to these forms?
● what is meant by "the new woman" and "mothers to society?"
● How did middle-class men generally respond to the changing times? Why were people like Eugene Sandow and Harry Houdini so significant at this time?
● What were some of the examples of nativism at this time?
● What was the Social Gospel and what are settlement houses?
.
…Multiple intelligences describe an individual’s strengths or capac.docxbudbarber38650
“…Multiple intelligences describe an individual’s strengths or capacities; learning styles describe an individual’s traits that relate to where and how one best learns” (Puckett, 2013, sec. 7.3).
This week you’ve read about the importance of getting to know your students in order to create relevant and engaging lesson plans that cater to multiple intelligences and are multimodal.
Assignment Instructions:
A. Using
SurveyMonkey
, create a survey that has:
At least five questions based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
At least five additional questions on individual learning style inventory
A specific targeted student population grade level (elementary/ middle/ high school/adults)
Include the survey link for your peers
B. Post a minimum 150 word introduction to your survey, using at least one research-based article (cited in APA format) explaining how it will:
Evaluate students’ abilities in terms of learning styles/preferences
Assist in the creation of differentiated lesson plans.
.
• World Cultural Perspective Paper Final SubmissionResources.docxbudbarber38650
•
World Cultural Perspective Paper Final Submission
Resources
•
By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assignment criteria:
•
Competency 1:
Evaluate communication issues and trends of various cultures within the United States.
•
Utilize effective research methods using a variety of applicable sources.
•
Demonstrate an ability to connect suitably selected research information with course content.
•
Competency 2:
Develop cultural self-awareness and other-culture awareness.
•
Investigate the interactive effect that cultural tendencies, issues, and trends of various cultures have on communication.
•
Competency 4:
Analyze how nonverbal communication (body language) affects intercultural communication.
•
Explain how personal interactions are affected by the nonverbal characteristics and differences specific to the U.S. culture.
•
Competency 5:
Communicate effectively in a variety of formats and contexts.
•
Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
Instructions
This paper is one piece of your course project. Complete the following:
•
Choose a world culture that is unfamiliar to you and is represented domestically in the United States.
•
Use research to collect a variety of resources about the culture. This includes interacting with members of the culture. In particular, focus your research on a small number of social issues surrounding the culture, along with cultural tendencies and trends, and the effect of these things on communication. Types of resources include interviews, media presentations, Web sites, text readings, scholarly articles, and other related materials.
•
In a paper of 500–1,000 words, address these things:
•
Investigate the effect that the tendencies, issues, and trends of the culture have on communication.
•
Explain how characteristics of nonverbal communication and other differences between your selected culture and U.S. culture affect personal interactions between members of the two cultures.
•
Connect the research you gathered to your ideas and explanations.
Refer to the World Cultural Perspective Paper Final Submission Scoring Guide as you develop this assignment.
Assignment Requirements
•
Written Communication:
Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
•
APA Formatting:
Resources and citations are formatted according to APA style and formatting.
•
Page Requirements:
500–1,000 words.
•
Font and Font Size:
Times New Roman or Arial, 12 point.
Develop your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. Submit your document as an attachment in the assignment area.
Note:
Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing.
In the tool, click on the linked resources for helpful writing information.
•
Intercultural Competence Reflection
Resources
Review the situation in the media.
• Write a story; explaining and analyzing how a ce.docxbudbarber38650
•
W
rite a story; explaining and analyzing
how a certain independent variable ( at the individual, group or organization levels) affects a dependent variable (behaviour or attitude),
•
You will freely select your story from “ life” : from college, home, neighborhood, a book , a video/ movie, TV…etc. as long as the story has two clear dependent and independent variables.
•
You will finish with a conclusion that lists both variables and explain their relationship (cause and effect).
•
Assignment words limits 200 words (minimum)
WITH REFRENCES ABOUT THE STORY/ SCENARIO SOURCE !
.
•Use the general topic suggestion to form the thesis statement.docxbudbarber38650
•Use the general topic suggestion to form the
thesis statement
which will be an opinion on the topic. The thesis must have
three
controlling ideas.
•Develop an essay
map or informal outline
•Develop each paragraph using a specific
topic sentence
related to the controls in your thesis; thus, announcing the subject matter of that paragraph.
•Use
transitional devices
throughout the essay and in each paragraph.
•Use any combination of modes to support your arguments.
• Have a well-developed introduction and conclusion.
•Use quotes from the text to support your arguments.
•You must have a title.
•Make a “Work Cited” page with the text as the only source.
Topic:
Reading helps students to develop skills that will make them into a more optimally rounded person. Choose any three skills learned in reading and discuss how each one can help students to be more academically inclined.
the text
“The 1960s: A Decade of Promise and Heartbreak”
By Kenneth T. Walsh
March 9, 2010
US News
It was a decade of extremes, of
transformational
change and
bizarre
contrasts: flower children and
assassins
,
idealism
and
alienation
, rebellion and
backlash
. For many in the
massive
post-World War II baby boom generation, it was both the best of times and the worst of times. (7 words)
There will be many 50-year anniversaries to mark significant events of the 1960s, and a big reason is that what happened in that remarkable era still
resonates
today. At the dawn of that decade of contrasts a half century ago—on Jan. 2 ,1960—a
charismatic
young senator from Massachusetts named John F. Kennedy announced that he was running for president, and he won the nation's highest office the following November. He remains one of the
iconic
figures in U.S. history. On February 1, four determined black men sat at a whites-only lunch counter at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C., and were denied service. Their act of
defiance
triggered a wave of sit-ins for civil rights across the South and brought
unrelenting
national attention to America's original sin of racism. On March 3, Elvis Presley returned to the United States from his Army stint in Germany, resuming his career as a pioneer of rock-and-roll and an icon of the youth culture celebrating freedom and a growing sense of rebellion.(5 words)
By the end of the decade, Kennedy had been
assassinated
, along with his brother Robert and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. America's cities had become powder kegs as African-Americans, despite historic gains toward legal equality, became more impatient than ever at being second-class citizens. Women began demanding their rights in
unprecedented
numbers. Young people and their parents felt a widening generation gap as seen in their differing perceptions of
patriotism
, drug use, sexuality, and the work ethic. The now familiar culture wars between liberals and conservatives caused angry divisions over law and order, busing, racial preferences, abortion, the Vie.
•The topic is culture adaptation ( adoption )16 slides.docxbudbarber38650
•
The topic is
culture adaptation ( adoption )
16 slides
FIrst part
1- I have to interview 4 people ( Indians Chinese....)
(Experts professors students......)
-What kind or type of culture shock they experienced when they first came to Kuwait?
And whether they tolerated? how do they feel where they tolerated by Kuwaitis ?
- why culture tolerance of a foreign country is required in international marketing.
Based on what you learn those people, you will learn about feelings and their problems and difficulties when they first arrived in foreign countries. And knowing this, now you have to take this knowledge and apply to marketing and answer the questions whether it's difficult to adopt to foreign culture if it's difficult for people it's probably will be very difficult to also introduce those products and adopt those products to foreign culture. So that's why am asking you why culture tolerance in other nations are important and required to International marketing. you have to answer those
The second part of the presentation
You will identify or you will give domestic examples and foreign examples ( culture imperatives + culture electives + culture exclusive) examples of each category what is it about
The last question of the presentation
To Discuss the factor that determined successfully global adaptation
you have to
inculde a video
( 1 min max: 2 min)
Chapter 5 and you may find it in other chapters
This is the book for my course marketing you can get infomation from it :
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8pig2KdTaOBSkRzVjJvR1pLUkU/edit
.
•Choose 1 of the department work flow processes, and put together a .docxbudbarber38650
•Choose 1 of the department work flow processes, and put together a thorough 1-paragraph summary to explain to the team the importance of this process and how it works with the EHR. Choose 1 work flow process from the following choices: ◦Appointment scheduling
◦Front desk or check-in
◦Nursing or clinical support
◦Care provider
◦Check-out desk
◦Business office or billing
◦Clinical staff or care provider
•Discuss and describe 3 facility software applications that integrate with the EHR. Examples of software applications are electronic prescribing, speech recognition, master patient index, encoder, picture archiving and communication, personal health record (PHR), decision support, and more.
•Prepare a 3-paragraph summary of each application for the implementation team, and discuss any problems that may be encountered during EHR implementation.
•Describe the impact of 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages of the EHR so that the implementation team can start to prepare for this discussion with the administrators
650 words
.
‘The problem is not that people remember through photographs, but th.docxbudbarber38650
‘The problem is not that people remember through photographs, but that they remember only photographs. This remembering through photographs eclipses other forms of understanding, and remembering.
Harrowing photographs do not inevitably lose their power to shock. But they are not much help if the task is to understand. Narratives can make us understand. Photographs do something else: they haunt us
’ (Sontag, p. 79-80). Discuss the implications of Sontag’s claim for contemporary politics and humanitarian organisations.
* 3500 WORDS
*font 12
*Double Spaced
*8 resources at least
.
·
C
hoose an article
o
1000 words
o
Published in 5 years
o
Credible (e.g. Wall Street Journal, Asia Times, Fortune)
·
Write 3 single spaced analysis
o
Relate to Organizational Behavior
o
APA style
o
Name of theory; Definition of the theory; Location of link in the article
o
Explain and make analysis
.
·You have been engaged to prepare the 2015 federal income tax re.docxbudbarber38650
·
You have been engaged to prepare the 2015 federal income tax return for Bob and Melissa Grant.
·
Your tax form submission should include: Form 1040, Schedules A, B, D, E, and Forms 4684 and 8949 as applicable. You will come across many items on the tax return we have not talked about in class; if we have not covered it in class, and it is not included in the information below, you do
not
need to address it on this assignment.
·
Your solution should contain a detailed workpaper that calculates the tax due or refunded with the return and calculated in the form of the tax formula (see Ch. 4 lecture slides). The calculation should be well labeled and EASY to follow. This presentation will be factored into your grade. Do NOT include any references or citations on your workpaper.
·
You may complete the return by hand (
neatly
) or typed using 2015 forms found on Blackboard or the IRS website. You may complete the form using software, one version of which is available in the ACELAB.
o
Note – ACELAB software is for the 2014 tax year; if you choose to use this method, you do not need to override the automatically calculated 2014 information, but your workpaper must detail each line item that will differ between the 2014 form generated and the 2015 forms).
·
Use the following assumptions in preparing the return:
o
The general method of accounting used by the Grants is the cash method.
o
Use all opportunities under law to minimize the 2015 federal income tax.
o
Use whole dollars when preparing the tax return.
o
Do not prepare a state income tax return.
o
Ignore the Line 45 calculation for alternative minimum tax.
o
If required information is missing, use reasonable assumptions to fill in the gaps.
Client memo (5 points)
·
Complete a letter to the client regarding tax planning advice. Identify and explain two reasonable tax planning items the family could use to minimize their tax liability and/or maximize their wealth. All items would be implemented in future years and do not impact the current tax return.
BOB AND MELISSA GRANT
INDIVIDUAL FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURN
Bob (age 43, SSN #987-45-1234) and Melissa Grant (age 43, SSN #494-37-4893) are married and live in Lexington, Kentucky. The Grants would like to file a joint tax return for the year. The Grants’ mailing address is 95 Hickory Road, Lexington, Kentucky 40502.
The Grants have two children Jared (SSN #412-32-5690), age 18, and Alese (SSN #412-32-6940), age 12. Jared is still in high school and works part time as a waiter and earns about $2,000 a year. The Grant’s also provide financial support to Bob’s aged (85 years) grandfather, Michael Sr., who is widowed and lives alone. Michael Sr.’s Social Security number is 982-21-5543. He has no income and the Grant’s provide 100 percent of his support.
Bob Grant’s Forms W-2 provided the following wages and withholding for the year:
Employer
Gross Wages
Federal Income Tax Withholding
State Income Tax Withholding
National Sto.
·Time Value of MoneyQuestion A·Discuss the significance .docxbudbarber38650
·
Time Value of Money
Question A
·
Discuss the significance of recognizing the time value of money in the long-term impact of the capital budgeting decision.
Question B
·
Discuss how the internal rate of return (IRR) method differs from the net present value (NPV) method. Be sure to include an explanation of what the IRR method is and what the NPV method is.
The initial post by day 5 should be a minimum of 150 words. If you use any source outside of your own thoughts, you should reference that source. Include solid grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and spelling.
.
·Reviewthe steps of the communication model on in Ch. 2 of Bus.docxbudbarber38650
·
Reviewthe steps of the communication model on in Ch. 2 of
Business Communication
. See Figure 2.1.
·
Identify one personal or business communication scenario.
Describe each step of that communication using your personal or business scenario. Use detailed paragraphs in the boxes provided
Steps of communication model
Personal or business scenario
1.
Sender has an idea.
2.
Sender encodes the idea in a message.
3.
Sender produces the message in a medium.
4.
Sender transmits message through a channel.
5.
Audience receives the message.
6.
Audience decodes the message.
7.
Audience responds to the message.
8.
Audience provides feedback to the sender.
Additional Insight
Identify
two potential barriers that could occur in your communication scenario and then explain how you would overcome them. Write your answer(s) below.
.
·Research Activity Sustainable supply chain can be viewed as.docxbudbarber38650
·
Research Activity
Sustainable supply chain can be viewed as Management of raw materials and services from suppliers to manufacturers/ service provider to customer - with improvement of the social and environmental impacts explicitly considered.
Carry out a literature review on sustainable / green supply chain and prepare:
·
A report (provide an example) -2500-3000 words approximately and
Issues/topics that
you may like
to address/consider are:
1.
Drivers for Sustainable SCM
2.
Analysing the impact of carbon emissions on manufacturing operation, cost and profit by focusing on product life cycle analysis.
Analyse aspects of the product life cycle in terms of; Outlining CO2 emission points and scope, defining CO2 baseline, prioritising measures to reduce or off set emissions and finally planning and initiating actions.
3.
New ways of thinking/information sharing
Seven key solution areas were identified:
·
In- store logistics: includes in-store visibility, shelf-ready products, shopper interaction
·
Collaborative physical logistics: shared transport, shared warehouse, shared infrastructure
·
Reverse logistics: product recycling, packaging recycling, returnable assets
·
Demand fluctuation management: joint planning, execution and monitoring
·
Identification and labelling: through the use of barcodes and RFID tags. Identification is about providing all partners in the value chain with the ability to use the same standardised mechanism to uniquely identify parties/locations, items and events with clear rules about where, how, when and by whom these will be created, used and maintained. Labels currently are the most widely used means to communicate about relevant sustainability and security aspects of a certain product towards consumers
·
Efficient assets: alternative forms of energy, efficient/aerodynamic vehicles, switching modes, green buildings
·
Joint scorecard and business plan: this solution consists of a suite of industry-relevant measurement tools falling into two broad categories: qualitative tools, which are a set of capability metrics designed to measure the extent to which the trading partners (supplier, service provider and retailer) are working collaboratively; and quantitative tools, which include business metrics aimed at measuring the impact of collaboration
4.
Sustainability in the carbon economy
5.
Introducing/developing sustainable KPI
s
to SC, SCOR,GSCF Models
Wal-Mart
may be a good example to look at: when you burn less, you pay less and emit less, and the benefits can ripple further. The big advantages for organisations in becoming sustainable are reducing costs and helping the environment. For example: Wal-Mart sells 25% of detergent sold in the United States, by replacing regular washing detergent with concentrate they will save: 400 million gallons of water, 125 million pounds of cardboard and packaging, 95 million pounds of plastic.
.
·DISCUSSION 1 – VARIOUS THEORIES – Discuss the following in 150-.docxbudbarber38650
·
DISCUSSION 1 – VARIOUS THEORIES – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Differentiate between the various dispositional, biological and evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 2 – STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Explain the strengths and limitations of dispositional, biological and evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 3 – ANALYZE PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Analyze individual personality characteristics using dispositional, biological and evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 4 – INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Explain interpersonal relations using dispositional and biological or evolutionary personality theories.
·
DISCUSSION 5 – ALLPORTS BELIEF – Discuss the following in 150-200 words with in text citations and references:
·
Do you agree or disagree with Allport's belief that individuals are motivated by present drives, not past events? Why?
.
·
Module 6 Essay Content
:
o
The Module/Week 6 essay requires you to discuss the history and contours of the “original intent” vs. “judicial activism” debate in American jurisprudence.
o
Part 1: Introduce and explain the key arguments supporting the “original intent” perspective and the argument for “judicial activism.”
o
Part 2: Weigh the merits of both sides and provide an assessment of both based upon research and analysis.
·
P
age Length:
At least three (3) pages in addition to the title page, abstract page, and bibliography page
·
Sources/Citations
: At least ten (10) sources, combining course material and outside material, are required. Key ideas from the required reading must be incorporated.
.
·Observe a group discussing a topic of interest such as a focus .docxbudbarber38650
·
Observe a group discussing a topic of interest such as a focus group, a community public assembly, a department meeting at your workplace, or local support group
·
Study how the group members interact and impact one another
·
Analyze how the group behaviors and communication patterns influence social facilitation
·
Integrate your findings with evidence-based literature from journal articles, textbook, and additional scholarly sources
Purpose:
To provide you with an opportunity to experience a group setting and analyze how the presence of others substantially influences the behaviors of its members through social facilitation.
Process:
You will participate as a guest at an interest group meeting in your community to gather data for a qualitative research paper. Once you have located an interest group, contact stakeholders and explain the purpose of your inquiry. After you receive permission to participate, you will schedule a date to attend the meeting; at which time you will observe the members and document the following for your analysis:
Part I
·
How were the people arranged in the physical environment (layout of room and seating arrangement)?
·
What is the composition of the group, in terms of number of people, ages, sex, ethnicity, etc.?
·
What are the group purpose, mission, and goals?
·
What is the duration of the group (short, long-term)? Explain.
·
Did the group structure its discussion around an agenda, program, rules of order, etc.?
·
Describe the structure of the group. How is the group organized?
·
Who are the primary facilitators of the group?
·
What subject or issues did the group members examine during the meeting?
·
What types of information did members exchange in their group?
·
What were the group's norms, roles, status hierarchy, or communication patterns?
·
What communication patterns illustrated if the group was unified or fragmented? Explain.
·
Did the members share a sense of identity with one another (characteristics of the group-similarities, interests, philosophy, etc.)?
·
Was there any indication that members might be vulnerable to Groupthink? Why or why not?
·
In your opinion, how did the collective group behaviors influence individual attitudes and the group's effectiveness? Provide your overall analysis.
Part II
Write a 1,200- to 1,500-word paper incorporating your analysis with evidence to substantiate your conclusion.
Explain how your observations relate to research studies on norm formation, group norms, conformity, and/or social influence.
Integrate your findings with literature from the textbook, peer-reviewed journal articles, and additional scholarly sources. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
.
·Identify any program constraints, such as financial resources, .docxbudbarber38650
·
Identify any program constraints, such as financial resources, human capital, and local culture.
·
Analyze the relationships between the policy developers and the policy implementers for the selected program.
Topic is Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. 380 words, APA format.
.
·Double-spaced·12-15 pages each chapterThe followi.docxbudbarber38650
·
Double-spaced
·
12-15 pages each chapter
The following is my layout for thesis:
CHAPTER 5
·
Brazil’s current outcomes in government, Financial, environmental, and community aspects.
1.
Variation in Government economic politics
2.
Yearly Financial growth
3.
Environmental risk factors
4.
Changes in community aspects
CHAPTER 6
·
Predictions of Market progression, Industrial variations, and government changes between 2007 to 2017
1.
Predictions for Industrial progression
a)
Financial variations and deviations
b)
Funding distribution for new technologies research and development
2.
Prediction for Brazil’s political outlook
a)
New economic laws and tax exemptions
b)
Changes in Political parties
3.
Predictions for deviations and variations in Brazil’s Market
a)
International growth
b)
Domestic growth
.
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
it describes the bony anatomy including the femoral head , acetabulum, labrum . also discusses the capsule , ligaments . muscle that act on the hip joint and the range of motion are outlined. factors affecting hip joint stability and weight transmission through the joint are summarized.
The simplified electron and muon model, Oscillating Spacetime: The Foundation...RitikBhardwaj56
Discover the Simplified Electron and Muon Model: A New Wave-Based Approach to Understanding Particles delves into a groundbreaking theory that presents electrons and muons as rotating soliton waves within oscillating spacetime. Geared towards students, researchers, and science buffs, this book breaks down complex ideas into simple explanations. It covers topics such as electron waves, temporal dynamics, and the implications of this model on particle physics. With clear illustrations and easy-to-follow explanations, readers will gain a new outlook on the universe's fundamental nature.
Delivering Micro-Credentials in Technical and Vocational Education and TrainingAG2 Design
Explore how micro-credentials are transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) with this comprehensive slide deck. Discover what micro-credentials are, their importance in TVET, the advantages they offer, and the insights from industry experts. Additionally, learn about the top software applications available for creating and managing micro-credentials. This presentation also includes valuable resources and a discussion on the future of these specialised certifications.
For more detailed information on delivering micro-credentials in TVET, visit this https://tvettrainer.com/delivering-micro-credentials-in-tvet/
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
For this Assignment, download and read the LS312_Unit4_AmtrakCa.docx
1. For this Assignment, download and read the
"LS312_Unit4_AmtrakCaseStudy" file from Doc Sharing.
Prepare a 3-page analysis that answers the following questions:
Introduction
· Who are the stakeholders in this case?
· What are the interests of the stakeholders?
Corporate Social Responsibility
· What was this corporation's corporate social responsibility to
the various stakeholders in this case before the incident?
· What is this corporation's corporate social responsibility to the
various stakeholders in this case after the incident?
Conclusion and Recommendation
· Based on the above, as well as what you have learned about
ethical theories and foundations of moral development, what is
your final recommendation to the corporation regarding how to
proceed after the incident?
· Your recommendation should be at least 2 paragraphs and
include at least three reasons, with specific references to
authoritative sources, stating how you arrived at that
conclusion.
Directions for Submitting Your Assignment
Be sure to organize your paper and demonstrate college-level
communication through the composition of original materials in
Standard American English. Remember to review the directions
below and the grading rubric to ensure you receive full credit
for this Assignment. Before you submit your Assignment, you
should save your work on your computer in a location and with
a name that you will remember. Make sure your Assignment is
in the appropriate format (.doc or .docx); then, when you are
ready, you may submit on the Dropbox page.
Turnitin® Resource
A valuable tool used to promote academic integrity in scholarly
work is Turnitin. Turnitin is a service that evaluates originality
2. of submitted work and supports the development of scholarly
writing skills. Students’ work is compared to material from the
Internet, journals, textbooks, and other Kaplan and non-Kaplan
student submissions. Turnitin helps students avoid plagiarism
through self-identification and correction of errors.
Turnitin is integrated into this Assignment. After an Assignment
is submitted to the Dropbox, the paper will be analyzed by
Turnitin and an originality report will be available for review.
Originality reports provide a summary of matching or highly
similar text found in a submitted paper, and will help you
identify content that should be corrected prior to the final
submission. When an originality report is available for viewing,
an icon will appear in the report column of the Assignment
Inbox. Originality reports are only available in the Inbox. For
this reason, you will need to download the report prior to the
grading of the Assignment. To do this, click on the print icon at
the bottom of the originality report. This will prepare a
readable, PDF version of the originality report you can save to
your computer.
An essential component of this process is the opportunity for
students to submit the Assignment to the Dropbox prior to the
Assignment due date. The key here is all corrections must be
made before the due date. Students will not have the
opportunity to make any corrections or changes after the posted
due date.
It is Kaplan’s hope that students will use this opportunity to
improve writing, prevent plagiarism, and maintain academic
integrity.
On September 22, 1993, the Sunset Limited, the
pride of Amtrak, glided swiftly along through the
warm, fall night. A dense fog hugged the country-
side. Because there was nothing to see through the
3. train’s windows, many passengers dozed peacefully,
lulled to sleep by the gentle, rhythmic, clickety-clack
of iron wheels passing over jointed rails. Crewmem-
bers roamed the aisles and halls making sure that
those guests still awake were accommodated and
comfortable. In less than a second, this peaceful
scene was shattered by a thundering roar as seats
were torn from the floor and passengers were sent
flying through the cars. At 2:53 a.m. Amtrak’s only
transcontinental passenger train, the Sunset Limited,
plunged into Big Bayou Canot, killing 47 passen-
gers. Eight minutes earlier at 2:45 a.m., a towboat,
pushing six barges and lost in a dense fog, unknow-
ingly bumped into the Big Bayou Canot Bridge
knocking the track out of alignment. The train, trav-
eling at a speed of 72 mph in the dense fog, derailed
as a result, burying the engine and four cars five sto-
ries deep in the mud and muck of Big Bayou
Canot.4,7,8,10,12,13
Bruce Barrett, a locomotive engineer, has
described what might have been occurring in the cab
of Amtrak engine Number 819 prior to the wreck.2
This scenario is based upon my 17 years’ experi-
ence as a locomotive engineer on a major
western railroad and upon the compilation of
bits and pieces of data from public records and
accounts of the accident.
Engineer Michael Vincent was at the controls
of the two-week-old General Electric “AMD-
103” locomotive. Engineer Billy Rex Hall was in
the cab with Vincent along with Ernest Lamar
Russ who was qualifying as an AMTRAK engi-
4. neer on this portion of the run.
I can almost see the instrument lights as they
cast a soft, orange glow across the cab of the loco-
motive, highlighted by the light from the train’s
headlight bouncing off the impenetrable fog. I
can hear the three men calling out the colors of
the railroad signals (sort of like traffic lights for
automobiles) as they came into view and dis-
cussing the restrictions that would affect the train
over the next few miles. The new locomotive,
shaped like a bullet, would have been the topic of
conversation. Engineers enjoy comparing the “old
days” with the new technology as it responds to
the movement of their hands on the controls as
the train clipped along at 103.53 feet per second.
While the headlight beam may have reached
1,000 feet in clear weather, given the dense fog,
the visibility would more likely have been less
than 100 feet. As the Bayou Canot Bridge
appeared in the fog, they would have had no hint
of what lay ahead. Even if the headlight had
detected the slight shift of the tracks to the left,
there would have been less than a second for Vin-
cent to react. I can see his hand as he reached too
late for the emergency brake as the 150-ton loco-
motive turned into an uncontrollable beast and
lurched to the left, starting a dive that would
bury the locomotive 46 feet—equivalent to five
stories—into the muddy bank of the bayou.
I can sense the bridge collapsing under me
and momentarily hear the locomotives and lead
cars dropping into the water and debris below. I
can feel the locomotive’s windshield glass against
6. over navigable bodies of water be equipped with sen-
sors to detect bridge damage, the Big Bayou Canot
Bridge was not so equipped. 4,7,8,10,12,13
None of the engineers survived. The three loco-
motive units came to rest on the east side of the
bayou. Part of Unit 819 was buried about 46 feet in
the mud, and the part protruding above the embank-
ment caught fire and burned. The verified records
indicate that in addition to the engines, a baggage
car, a baggage-dorm, and two coaches of the eight-car
train dove into the 16 feet of water below the bridge.
The last four cars remained on the bridge.8
The passenger cars in the bayou immediately
began to fill with water, and the diesel fuel from rup-
tured locomotive fuel tanks began to burn atop the
water. While some passengers were able to fight their
way to the surface, others were hopelessly trapped in
the wreckage. Parents lifted children to safety and, in
their continuing efforts to save others, became vic-
tims themselves. Others dove repeatedly into the
black waters in attempts to save fellow passengers. 7,10
Darkness prevailed outside the cars after the
derailment. Battery-powered emergency lighting,
available inside coaches, provided some illumina-
tion, but only the train crew had penlights to use
while walking down the tracks in the dark. Once the
cars entered the water, the emergency lighting
became inoperable, further complicating evacuation
from the submerged cars. Without light from a few
penlights and from the fire that ensued following the
accident, no light would have been available.
Because emergency lighting was unavailable in the
7. submerged cars, passengers had difficulty locating
and moving to exits.8
Since most on-board service crewmembers were
asleep in the dorm coach and since the train atten-
dants were in the cars on the bridge, passengers in
the submerged cars had to make decisions on their
own and evacuate without assistance. Fortunately, a
few passengers took control of the situation, located
exits, and told others what to do.13
Both the conductor and the assistant conductor
were in the diner car, the next to the last car on the
train. The assistant conductor reported that the acci-
dent took place without warning—no setting up of
the brakes, no horn blast, and no communication to
the locomotive crew. He was thrown onto a table in
front of him and then into the middle of the car.
The conductor was thrown over him. When the
train stopped, the conductor attempted to contact
the engineers in the lead locomotive using his
portable radio but received no reply.8
The badly shaken but otherwise uninjured assis-
tant conductor instantly contacted Warren Carr (the
CSX trainmaster) who was responsible for monitor-
ing all traffic in this portion of the CSX system and
requested immediate assistance. But, in the confu-
sion and blackness he was able to give only a general
location of the wreck.7
The New York Times article entitled “Report
Revises Times in Train Wreck” published October 8,
1993, included the following transcripts of three
calls to 911 placed by Amtrak employees immedi-
ately after the accident.12
8. FIRST CALL: 3:01 A.M.
The first two calls came from officials of CSX Trans-
portation Inc., owner of the tracks and bridge.
Warren Carr, an assistant terminal trainmaster in
Mobile, apparently made the first, to the Mobile
police dispatcher.
Mr. Carr tells the operator a train has derailed at
Bayou Sara drawbridge and that he understands
people are in the water and the bridge is on fire.
There are references to Prichard, a small town on the
edge of Mobile and Chickasabogue, or Chickasaw
Creek, five miles southwest of the accident site
(Exhibit 2).
911: Where is this? Where is that located?
CARR: It’s off the Mobile River.
911: Um-hm.
CARR: It’s north of Chickasabogue draw.
You can’t . . .
911: You can’t . . .?
CARR: You can’t get there, can’t get there by
vehicle.
9. 911: O.K., is that going to be, is that going
to be in Prichard, north of Chick-
asabogue? Is that going to be it?
CARR: It’s north of Chickasabogue.
911: Um-hm.
CARR: It’s a passenger train. I got people in
the water. I got cars on fire.
911: O.K., but . . .
CARR: It’s a derailment.
911: O.K., a derailment, but is it in
Prichard, there by Chickasabogue
Creek?
CARR: No, it’s on the river.
911: On the Mobile River?
CARR: You can’t get to it over the road.
911: O.K.
CARR: You’re going to have to get some
helicopters and boats and Coast
Guard and all those people.
Later, Mr. Carr gets frustrated as he tries to give a
location.
CARR: No, it’s, it’s south of Mobile River,
north of Chickasabogue River.
10. 911: South of . . .
CARR: North of Chickasabogue, at the
next, next major creek, north of
Chickasabogue.
911: And south of, what other river was
that?
CARR: South of Mobile River. It’s right
along beside Mobile River, where
Bayou Sara comes off the Mobile
River.
911: Bayou Seven?
CARR: Get me ahold of the Coast Guard.
SECOND CALL: 3:10 A.M.
The second call was from Ronnie Seymour, an assis-
tant CSX supervisor for bridges and buildings in
Mobile. During this call, operators confirmed that
the train was carrying passengers and began to grasp
the scope of the disaster. (Exhibit 3 provides a
sequence of events.)
911: Can you tell me what the train was
carrying?
SEYMOUR: The passengers.
911: Passengers? (She then speaks to
another operator.) “It’s going to be
Saraland, but it’s a passenger train
11. that’s derailed . . . crew in water, the
train’s on fire.”
911: So it is a passenger train?
SEYMOUR: Yes, ma’am.
911: O.K., sir. It’s going to be Saraland’s
but we have notified the proper
authorities, O.K.?
SEYMOUR: Thank you very much.
THIRD CALL: 3:16 A.M.
The third call, 26 minutes after the accident is
believed to have occurred, was from an unidentified
Amtrak supervisor on the train.
AMTRAK: “We’re on, we’re on the Mobile
River.
911: You’re on the Mobile River?
AMTRAK: On the Mobile River. We’ve got cars
burning. They’re over, the bridge is
out. There’s a person in the water.
We’re trying to help them, but we
need all kind of help.
911: So the bridge is out?
AMTRAK: Yes, ma’am, we need help. Send help,
please.
Later, after telling the supervisor help is on the way,
12. the operator asks about the location of the wreck.
911: This is the bridge that’s out?
AMTRAK: Yes, ma’am. The bridge is out. Yes,
ma’am.
911: O.K., which bridge is this that’s . . .
that’s out?
AMTRAK: Ma’am, I don’t know. We’re on the
Mobile River.
911: You’re on the Mobile River?
AMTRAK: That’s all I know.
911: But you don’t know which bridge
it is?
AMTRAK: No, ma’am. No, ma’am. I haven’t
been informed by the conductor.
(The supervisor can be heard yelling:
“John! John!” apparently to the con-
ductor.)
The supervisor ends the call by telling the operator,
“Ma’am, I have to go and assist these folks.”
Source: The Associated Press
Neither Carr nor the Mobile Police Depart-
13. ment’s 911 operator were successful in their first
attempts to contact the Coast Guard due to an
incorrect listing of the number in the Mobile tele-
phone directory. And, because there were no
coordinated emergency response maps for the area, a
confused 911 operator had a difficult time under-
standing the location of the wreck site being
described by Mr. Carr. These two factors had the
effect of slowing rescue efforts considerably.8
Immediately after the wreck, Amtrak crewmen
and passengers noted a “large marine vessel 150
yards or more to the south.” It was later identified as
the Mauvilla. Survivors thought it strange that the
Mauvilla did not move in to assist in the rescue
efforts until 15-25 minutes after the crash.12
ON BOARD THE M/V MAUVILLA
Meanwhile, a short distance away at about 2:45
A.M., towboat captain, Andrew Stabler, realized that
the “bump” which had awakened him from a sound
sleep a few minutes earlier was more serious than
simply glancing off the river bank in the dense fog.
His tow, the M/V Mauvilla (Mauvilla), owned by
Warrior and Gulf Navigation Company (WGN) had
been traveling up the Mobile River pushing a string
of six barges of coal, cement, logs, and woodchips on
its normal run to Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Pilot
Willie Odom, who was piloting the towboat while
Captain Stabler napped, became lost in the fog and
turned into Big Bayou Canot by mistake. Even
though the towboat was equipped with radar, Pilot
Odom had not been adequately trained in its use.
National transportation regulations state that when
14. boats become lost in foggy conditions, they must
notify the Coast Guard immediately; however, this
did not occur. River charts show the Big Bayou
Canot Bridge as a trackline over the waterway but do
not state its name, clearances, or the fact that it is a
fixed bridge. The waterway was without channel
markers and was restricted to barge traffic. Neverthe-
less, it was listed as a “navigable waterway” by the
United States Coast Guard.8
On September 10, 1994, the National Trans-
portation Safety Board published the following
official account of activities aboard the Mauvilla
immediately after it collided with the bridge:8
Pilot Odom stated as he maneuvered upstream
that he saw an object on his radar that appeared
to be lying across the waterway. No river charts
were on board the towboat or were they required
to be. Odom said that he never considered the
object might have been something other than
another towboat and barges that had swung out
from the bank. In fact, the object was the single-
track Big Bayou Canot railroad bridge, which
has a vertical clearance of about 7 feet and is
part of the CSX track system. The lead barge of
the Mauvilla had a total height of 7 feet 10
inches.
At some point as he continued toward the
bridge, Odom placed the throttles of the
Mauvilla in reverse. He testified that he was
“still trying to figure out what was in front of
me. And, I never could.” He said he felt a
“bump” and thought he had run aground. The
deckhand on duty testified that he also felt the
15. “bump” while sitting in the galley and noted the
time as 2:45 a.m. In fact, the lead port and star-
board barges of the Mauvilla had struck the
south and center piers of the bridge’s through-
girder span. The forward center barge, which
protruded about 5 feet ahead of the port and
starboard barges, struck the east girder between
these two piers, displacing the south end of the
girder span 38 inches to the west. This caused
the east girder to obtrude into the space traversed
by trains.
As a result of the collision, the port string of
barges broke free from the tow. In the process of try-
ing to retrieve the loose barges, the Mauvilla backed
into the east bank of the Big Bayou Canot, where it
remained pinned for about 8 minutes until about
2:53 a.m.
When the on-duty deckhand went on deck
shortly after the collision with the bridge, he saw
flames and said he heard “a hiss like a roar but not a
boom or nothing like that.” The deckhand estimat-
ed that the fire started 5 to 10 minutes after he felt
the “bump.” Odom then radioed the Mobile River
bridge tender* and asked whether anyone had
reported a fire; the tender replied, “No.”
When Captain Stabler arrived in the wheel-
house shortly after he felt the bump” and assumed
control of the tow from the pilot, the starboard
quarter of the towboat was up against the bank, lim-
16. iting the vessel’s movement. At about 3:05 a.m.
Captain Stabler, concerned about his situation with
the loose barges, broadcast a distress message on
VHF/FM Channel 16:
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, the motor vessel
Mauvilla [garbled], got a tow broke up right
below anchorage end of pier and seems to have
a cable or something wrapped in the wheel,
barges adrift southbound. . . . If anybody down
there can help rounding them up, I would
appreciate it.”
The U.S. Coast Guard Group Mobile (Group)
received the radio transmission; the radio operator
on watch responded and asked for a position.
Captain Stabler replied: “We’re between the
upper end of Twelve Mile Island and the old
maritime cut, somewhere in that area and I’m
not exactly sure on the mileboard, over.”
Responding to the Group radio operator’s ques-
tions about 3:06 a.m., Captain Stabler said that four
people were on board, that the Mauvilla was unable
to move, and that the vessel was in no danger of
sinking.
He added, “I believe we’re right on top of this
thing.”
About 3:07 a.m., the Group told the captain
that a train had derailed.
Captain Stabler replied, “I believe we’re right
below the train. . . . They’s a helluva fire in the
17. middle of the river and there ain’t supposed to
be no fire up here and, like I say, I don’t know
exactly where we at. It’s so foggy I can’t tell . . .
by looking at the radar, so there’s something
bad wrong up here.”
The Group’s operator asked Captain Stabler
about 3:11 a.m. whether he was involved in the
train derailment.
He replied, “I can’t tell you for a hun-
dred percent whether I’m involved or
not. We are right below it, I’m not sure
what’s going on. I come up here it was
so foggy I can’t tell where I’m at. . . . I
can’t get away from the barges where
I’m at. I’m gonna try to get out of here
and see if I can’t go up there and help
somebody.”
After extensive maneuvering of the Mauvilla’s
engines and rudders, Captain Stabler was able to free
the towboat from its position between the bank and
the port string of barges. He then ordered the deck-
hands to release the towboat from the barges that
remained together, maneuvered the Mauvilla to the
port side of the tow, and pushed all six barges onto
the bank. Leaving the barges pushed into the north-
east bank, he moved the towboat toward the fire.
About 3:19 a.m., Captain Stabler called and advised
the Coast Guard that he had his barges under con-
trol and that he would try to render assistance to
survivors.
WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE?
18. The United States District Court for the Southern
District of Alabama trial records describing the acci-
dent read as follows:1
The incident occurred in the early hours of Sep-
tember 22, 1993, in state territorial waters near
the Port of Mobile, Alabama. At approximately
2:45 that morning, a commercial towing vessel
named the M/V Mauvilla (“Mauvilla”) was
traveling north on the Mobile River pushing a
tow of six loaded barges toward a destination
some three hundred and fifty miles upriver. The
vessel, owned and operated by Warrior and Gulf
Navigation, Inc. (WGN), was carrying a crew
under command of a captain and pilot.
Early in the voyage, the Mauvilla was
enveloped by a heavy fog that had settled on the
river. The pilot of the vessel, with his visibility of
the waterway compromised, decided to secure the
Mauvilla and wait for the fog to abate. How-
ever, while attempting to secure the Mauvilla to
the riverbank, the pilot allowed the vessel to veer
into the mouth of Big Bayou Canot, a tributary
of the Mobile River.
Unaware of what had transpired, and
under the mistaken belief that he was still navi-
gating on the Mobile River, the pilot continued
to search for a place to secure the Mauvilla and
its tow. While this task was being undertaken,
19. an object appeared on the Mauvilla’s radar
screen that the pilot believed to be another vessel
to which he could secure his vessel. The object
was in fact a railroad bridge, owned and main-
tained by CSX, that crossed Big Bayou Canot.
As the pilot steered the Mauvilla toward the
object, the tow struck a bridge support causing a
portion of the track to become laterally mis-
aligned. Soon after, a passenger train, operated by
Amtrak, derailed while attempting to traverse the
damaged section of rail. Three locomotives, two
passenger coaches, a crew dormitory car, and a
baggage car tumbled into the bayou, resulting in
the death of forty-seven persons on the train,
numerous personal injuries, and extensive proper-
ty damage to the train and bridge.
The crash precipitated the filing of over one
hundred personal injury and wrongful death
suits against WGN, the pilot and captain of the
Mauvilla, CSX, and Amtrak. The Judicial
Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated
these actions in the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Alabama for all pre-
trial proceedings.
The media is often quick to assign blame for
tragic accidents (See Appendices A and B). Those
cited in this particular tragedy for being totally or
partially responsible were the National Transporta-
tion Safety Board (NTSB), Amtrak, CSX, WGN,
the U.S. Coast Guard, the towboat captain, the
pilot, and the Alabama Emergency Response Net-
work. However, because of the multitude of
technical and environmental complexities surround-
20. ing the accident, determining responsibility is not a
simple matter. The managers of the organizations,
the public administrators, and the various individu-
als who were linked with the disaster tended to have
different perceptions than the media regarding
blame and how to prevent similar accidents in the
future. Others believed that, because of the com-
plexity and types of interactions of the various
organizational systems and subsystems involved, the
Big Bayou Canot disaster should be considered a
“normal” accident (See Appendix C).11 A shocked
nation was left pondering why this tragedy occurred,
who was responsible, and what measures should be
taken to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy in
the future.
Appendix A
Passenger Transportation
in the United States 3
People in America log more business and pleasure
passenger miles than those in any other country in
the world. In 1990, airlines, railroads, and bus lines
in the United States accounted for 423.7 billion pas-
senger miles and $30.76 billion in revenues.
Of the three modes of public transportation,
railroads allow passengers a more leisurely mode of
transportation at fares higher than bus fares but
lower than airfares. Cross country and commuter
train passenger miles averaged 12.26 billion per year
between 1983 and 1989, reaching 13.24 billion pas-
senger miles in 1990. Cross-country train-travel in
21. 1990 accounted for 6.04 billion passenger miles or
46% of this total versus 56% for commuter travel.
Cross-country passenger trains are operated by
the North American Passenger Corporation, com-
monly known as “Amtrak.” In stark contrast to
crowded inter-city commuter trains, these trains
offer passengers a nostalgic journey into the past by
providing roomy accommodations with large floor-
to-ceiling windows and vista domes. Amtrak also
offers fine dining, a secure and relaxed environment,
and first-class sleeping accommodations. Coach
prices are reasonably affordable and the sleeping cars
are still less costly than first-class airfare.
In the 1950s, air travel was rapidly gaining in
popularity, and the automobile continued to chip
away at the railroads’ customer base. In a bold plan
designed to win back the public to rail travel, the
ET LIMITED
railroads introduced air-conditioned, stainless steel
streamliners with all the luxuries of a fine hotel. This
proved to be “a final ill-fated attempt by the rail-
roads to trim costs and to dull the attraction of a
vastly improved interstate highway system.” Passen-
ger miles continued to plummet as travelers turned
to the faster air travel and the ease of automobile
travel on the nation’s interstate highways. The actual
cost of providing basic passenger service, much less
providing luxury service, dropped revenues below
the breakeven point.
22. By the late 1960s, rail passenger service costs
exceeded revenues. A study by the Interstate Com-
merce Commission (1968) of eight major carriers
recorded average passenger train expenses of $1.83
for every $1.00 of passenger train revenue. In addi-
tion, passenger trains slowed the departure and
arrival of highly profitable freight trains because pas-
senger trains were accorded scheduling priorities.
Ultimately, declining patronage and mounting losses
forced many railroads to discontinue passenger ser-
vice. By 1970, virtually all passenger trains had
disappeared from the nation’s railroads.
AMTRAK
The few passenger trains that remained in service
were “nationalized” on May 1, 1971, when the gov-
ernment-formed, semipublic National Railroad
Passenger Corporation (NRPC) was given a charter
to run the nation’s railroad passenger service. This
organization evolved into the North American Pas-
senger Association (Amtrak). As with the aviation
and highway systems, Amtrak has been subsidized by
the Federal government throughout its 23-year exis-
tence, just as aviation and highways are subsidized.6
With the help of these hefty government subsi-
dies and passenger revenues, Amtrak succeeded in
forging a profitable national railroad passenger trans-
portation network from a hodge-podge of run-down
equipment and facilities inherited from an obsolete
transportation system. New cars and locomotives
were purchased to replace outdated cars and equip-
ment. Run-down facilities with high operating costs
were rebuilt or were replaced with new construction.
23. By 1996, Amtrak had received almost $15 Bil-
lion in Federal subsidies and the NRPC still
continues to be a burden to taxpayers:
Federal subsidies to Amtrak (1993 to 1996)
$ 731 Million
909 Million
1,000 Million
700 Million
Amtrak itself owns and maintains only 730
route miles of track located mainly in the Northeast
to compete with the airline commuter traffic
between Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Balti-
more, and Washington, DC. The remainder of the
23,270 miles of track on which Amtrak operates is
privately owned and maintained by other railroads.
Since its inception in 1971, Amtrak has carried pas-
sengers over 119 billion passenger miles. In its
27-year history, Amtrak has had 88 passenger fatali-
ties due to train accidents, or .073 fatalities per 100
million passenger miles. This compares to a passen-
ger fatality rate for planes of .025; buses .028; and
automobiles, 1.03.8,9
CHESAPEAKE SYSTEM RAILROADS
(CSX)
CSX Corporation is a Fortune 500 transportation
company providing rail, intermodal, container-ship-
ping, barging and contract logistics services
worldwide. Holdings include CSX Transportation,
Inc.; Sea-Land Service, Inc.; CSX Intermodal, Inc.;
24. American Commercial Lines, Inc.; and Customized
Transportation, Inc. In 1997, CSX generated more
than $10.6 billion of operating revenue. CSX owns
and maintains the track on which the Big Bayou
Canot disaster occurred.5,9
Financial Highlights (In Millions)
1997 1996 1995 1994
Summary of Operations
Operating Revenue $10,621 $10,563 $10,304 $9,409
Operating Expense 9,038 9,014 8,921 8,227
Restructuring Charge — — 257 —
Total Operating Expense 9,038 9,014 9,178 8,227
Operating Income $1,583 $1,522 $1,126 $1,182
Net Earnings $ 799 $855 $618 $ 652
WARRIOR AND GULF NAVIGATION
(WGN)
Organized in 1940, WGN had about 225 employ-
ees. Of that number, 45 were towboat captains or
pilots, and 54 were deckhands. The remaining
employees were managers, support personnel, and
terminal operators. The company and the American
25. Waterways Operators, Inc. consider WGN a medi-
um-size operation; at the time of the accident it had
about 250 barges and 24 towboats.8
The company typically moves six barges in a
tow and occasionally eight. In the fast current of
high-water conditions, tow size is usually held to
four barges. One operator and one deckhand stand
watch on a towboat on a 6-hour-on, 6-hour-off
rotation, which is typical for the type of towing
operation the company is engaged in. Between 1981
and 1994, the company experienced 45 reportable
marine accidents, including the Big Bayou Canot
accident. The 3.75 accidents-per-year average
equates to 0.2 accidents per towboat-tow per year. A
local Coast Guard official stated that he thought
that WGN’s accident record was better than average
for inland towing companies.8
Appendix B
Safety Issues, Regulations,
Recommendations, and
Procedures8
AMTRAK
Prior to the accident, Amtrak used signs and plac-
ards, as well as briefings, to inform passengers about
the safety features on its trains. Both on board ser-
vice personnel and conductors had responsibility for
safety on Amtrak trains and Amtrak’s manuals stated
that such briefings be routinely given at all stations.
Signs in Amtrak cars indicated the location of first-
26. aid kits, fire extinguishers, and emergency windows;
signs on the ceilings adjacent to emergency windows
were phosphorescent. Each emergency window had
signs explaining how to remove it from both the
inside and the outside. Signs posted in the car
vestibules and elsewhere throughout the cars also
gave instructions about window removal.
Although the collision of the Mauvilla with the
Big Bayou Canot Bridge displaced the south end of
the structure about 38 inches horizontally, the rails
remained intact. Had the rail broken as a result of
the collision and subsequent displacement of the
bridge and track, the signal at Bayou Sara, about 1.7
miles from the accident sight, would have displayed
a red or “stop” aspect. Because the rails remained
intact, the signal circuitry was not interrupted. The
signal displayed for the Sunset Limited was clear or
“proceed,” as the assistant conductor confirmed
when he heard the locomotive crew call the signal
over the radio.
TOWBOAT REGULATIONS
Title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Parts
24 through 28, set forth equipment requirements
for uninspected vessels (under 1,600 tons). The reg-
ulations cover life preservers and other life saving
equipment; fire extinguishing equipment; emer-
gency position indicating radio beacons for vessels
on the high seas; and cooking, heating, and lighting
systems as well as other equipment. They do not
cover navigation equipment. Thus, the Mauvilla, an
uninspected towboat of less than 1,600 tons, was
not required to be fitted with a radio, charts, or a
27. compass.
BRIDGE REGULATIONS
No single entity is responsible for the safety of the
nation’s bridges. Federal, state, and local govern-
ments, as well as private industry, share the
responsibility. This fragmentation of authority often
leads to a piecemeal, uneven approach to bridge
safety. Additionally, bridge safety involves several
transportation modes (including marine, railroad,
and highway) and several Federal agencies including
the Coast Guard.
NTSB first addressed the issue of bridge align-
ment protection after a Union Pacific freight train,
traveling westbound at 50 mph, struck a displaced
bridge at Devil’s Slide, Utah, on November 17,
1979, derailing 5 locomotive units and 56 cars.
Damage estimates exceeded $5 million. As a result
of its investigation of that accident, the Safety Board
issued Safety Recommendation R-80-36, asking the
Federal Railroad Association (FRA) to study “the
feasibility of installing on bridges a mechanism to
indicate when bridges are displaced.”
On May 6, 1981, the FRA responded, noting
that the 98,000 route miles of track in the continen-
tal United States contain some 85,000 bridges. The
cost of installing a detection device on each of these
bridges would be about $850 million; maintenance
28. costs would total an additional $85 million per year.
CSX alone has 11,000 railroad bridges in service.
The FRA also noted that of the 41,627 railroad acci-
dents that occurred between 1976 and 1979, only
20 were caused by displaced bridges or bridges that
failed under load. Of those 20, four resulted from
misalignments that could be detected by the recom-
mended mechanism.
Because the cost of compliance to the NTSB’s
recommendation was thought by railroads to far
outweigh benefits, it was largely ignored. In addi-
tion, neither the US Army Corps of Engineers nor
the Coast Guard required bridge protection systems,
such as lights, markers, dolphins, and fenders; there-
fore, none were in place on the Big Bayou Canot
bridge at the time of the accident. CSX testified that
the bridge did not warrant such systems because it
was not located on a commercially navigable water-
way. The bridge had originally been built as a swing
bridge, but the machinery had never been installed.
Since the accident CSX has replaced the Big Bayou
Canot Bridge with a permanent structure.
Appendix C
Normal Accidents
Normal accidents focus on the properties of systems
themselves rather than on the errors that owners,
designers, and operators make running them. They
occur as a result of failure in a subsystem, or the sys-
tem as a whole, that damages more than one unit
and in doing so disrupts the ongoing or future out-
put of the system. The disruption and/or damage to
the system must be substantial enough to seriously
29. interfere with ongoing or future tasks that will be
demanded of things, objects, or people. Output
ceases or decreases to the extent that prompt repairs
are required.11
In normal accidents, humans are treated as
parts. However, the vast majority of “accidents”
involving humans are only “incidents.” That is, the
damage is limited to first and second party victims
(operators and system users); system or subsystem
failures do not damage or disrupt the system. For an
accident to be classified as a normal accident it must
involve third and fourth party victims; innocent
bystanders, fetuses and future generations. It is not
the source of the accident that distinguishes the two
types since both begin with component failures;
rather it is the presence of multiple failures that
interact in unanticipated ways. In the Big Bayou
Canot disaster an unanticipated connection
occurred between three independent, unrelated sub-
systems that happened to be in close proximity to
each other resulting in an interaction that was not
planned, expected, or linear—a normal accident!11
1. Amtrak “Sunset Limited” Train Crash in Bayou Canot,
Alabama, on September 22, 1993 v. Warrior & Gulf
Navigation Company. United States Court of
Appeals, 11th Circuit, No. 96-6833.
2. Barrett, Bruce. Locomotive Engineer, Santa Fe
Railroad, Pueblo, Colorado. Personal Interview, Fall
1994.
3. Berge, Stanley, Railroad Passenger Service Costs and
30. Financial Results. Northwestern University School of
Commerce, Evanston, IL, 1956.
4. Chin, Paula, et al. “Horror on the Rails.” People,
August 19, 1991, pp. 43–4.
*The Mobile River bridge tender is responsible for rais-
ing and lowering the 14-mile swing bridge (drawbridge)
across the Mobile River for river traffic. Because clear-
ance of the bridge above the water is 4 inches and
because river traffic on the Mobile River is heavy, the
bridge tender typically knows the location of all river-
boats in the vicinity of the bridge at all times.
5. CSX Corp. SEC Filing: Form 10-K for CSX Corp,
March 4, 1994.
6. Edmonson, Harold A., Journey to Amtrak—The Year
History Rode the Passenger Train, Kalmbach Publish-
ing, Milwaukee, WI, 1972.
7. Gregory, Sophfronia Scott. “Death by Fire and
Water.” Time, October 4, 1993, p. 67.
8. Hall, J. E. et. al. A Derailment of Amtrak Train No.
2 on the CSXT Big Bayou Bridge Near Mobile,
Alabama, September 23, 1993. National Transporta-
31. tion Safety Board. Washington, D.C., September
19, 1994.
9. Harrington, Patricia, National Transportation Statis-
tics Annual Report—June 1992, Department of
Transportation, Volpe National Transportation Sys-
tems Center, Cambridge, MA, Publication No.
DOT-VNTSC-RSPA 92-1.
10. Lambert, Pam and Gail Wescott. “Hero of Car
211.” People, October 11, 1993, pp. 46–49.
11. Perrow, Charles, Normal Accidents—Living with
High Risk Technologies. Basic Books, Inc., New York,
NY, 1984.
12. Tolchin, Martin. “Report Revises Times in Train
Wreck.” The New York Times, October 8, 1993, p.
A22.
13. “Tragedy in a Bayou: The Wreck of the Sunset Lim-
ited.” Trains Magazine, Kalmbach Publishing Co.,
Waukesha, WI, December 1993, pp. 14–18.
Exhibit 1 Mobile, Alabama, and Vicinity Showing Location of
Wreck of Amtrak’s Sunset Limited
32. Exhibit 2 Mobile River Chart
Note: The accident site at Big Bayou Canot Bridge is in close
proximity to the Mobile River, which has a deep and wide
channel heavily uti-
lized by commercial traffic. Big Bayou Canot, a tributary of the
Mobile River, has a natural channel like the Mobile River.
There are few
natural landmarks that allow mariners to visibly distinguish this
waterway and the Mobile River. The geography of Bayou Sara
and Big Bayou
Canot, and the Mobile River in the vicinity of the CSX railroad
bridge, is similar enough that in periods of reduced visibility or
at night time,
mariners could become disoriented without additional aids.
There are no obstructions or other hindrances to navigation
between the Mobile
River channel and the bridge site, thereby allowing commercial
vessels unrestricted access to the bridge site.Vessels transiting
the Mobile River
may enter the Big Bayou Canot in error, particularly at
nighttime or during periods of limited visibility.
Sequence of Events
SUNSET LIMITED MAUVILLA
9/21/93
9:30 p.m. Crew on duty, New Orleans
11:30 p.m. Pilot on watch
11:34 p.m. Train 2 departed New Orleans
33. 9/22/93
12:55 a.m. Departed National Marine
Fleet, mile 5, Mobile River
2:15 a.m. Radioed towboat Thomas B.
McCabe
2:30 a.m. Arrived Mobile
2:33 a.m. Departed Mobile
2:45 a.m. Hit bridge
2:53 a.m. Derailment
2:56 a.m. Assistant conductor radioed“MAY DAY”
2:57 a.m. CSX dispatcher notified
3:00 a.m. CSX called 911
3:05 a.m. Radioed “MAY DAY” lost
tow, need help
3:07 a.m. Reported fire via radio
3:08 a.m. Coast Guard advised
captain of accident.
Exhibit 3 Times Relevant to Accident 8