Friday, January 24, 2020

A Dolls House Essay -- A Dolls House Essays

A Doll House Essay Ibsen said that his mission in life was to â€Å"Inspire individuals to freedom and independence† which was shown throughout the play A Doll House. Since he wrote modern theatre, the characters were real and audiences could relate to them. He particularly questioned the role of men and women during his time. Ibsen used A Doll House to motivate women so they would seek more power and freedom in their relationships. Audiences could then look up to characters such as Nora and Mrs Linde whom were independent, some what ahead of their times. Ibsen’s purpose was to not only to enlighten women of their unfair status but also to make the men understand women are much smarter than what they think. His goal was to change these attitudes of all humans so equality could be reached. By 1878-79, when A Doll House was written, women’s rights had become a burning issue. People such as John Stuart Mill who wrote The Subjection of Women (1869) were one of the first to raise these issues and could be seen as an early feminist. They raised question as to whether the female role was fair. Before then, women were very submissive and had little opportunities. They were unable to have a job and were expected to do household duties and take care of the children. Men were the dominant ones but the women knew no different. For the few who could see this inequality, they were seen as ‘unfeminine’ as they were thinking for themselves, which is something only a man would do. Ibsen would be on their sides and tried to express that it was all right, through his characters. Nora plays upon her innocence and helplessness at the beginning to achieve things, being the typical stereotype of women in this time. â€Å"Oh, please,... ... stand up for themselves. They were unlike the stereotype in which women were made into and took responsibility for their actions. The play would make people think and discuss these roles of men and women and even question the values of society. Ibsen hoped he would make women realise they deserve a choice as to whether they want to marry and to be equal with men. Bibliography Mills, John Stuart 1860, The Subjection of Women, Prometheus Books, New York â€Å"Ibsen- woman’s rights† 2005 http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/2001/fr/ibsen/form.html, 24/04/05 â€Å"A Doll House- Ibsen† 2005 http://www.novelguide.com/ADoll'sHouse/themeanalysis.html 24/04/05 â€Å"Woman’s right and roles† 2005 http://www.unesco.no/kommunikasjon/hukommelse/ibsen.html. 24/04/05 â€Å"Woman’s Liberation, Ibsen† 2005 http://www.international-relations.com/cm3-2/Feminismweb. html 24/04/05

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Ethical Issues Surrounding Walmart

Ethical issues surrounding Wal-Mart Ronald L. Reeves Columbia Southern University Ethical issues surrounding Wal-Mart Sam Walton, founded Wal-Mart over forty years ago, where it started as a five-and-ten store in Bentonville, Arkansas (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Since then it has become one of the largest retail stores in the world, with an estimated annual sales of close to $300 billion (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). His business philosophy was to provide low prices to its customers everyday (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009).With such tremendous success in profits and growth, it has also brought many challenges relating to ethical issues in regards to; off-the-clock-work, sexual discrimination, health benefits, the role of unions, use of illegal aliens, and issues relating to child and labor laws. It is the intent of this case study to identify the ethical issues Wal-Mart has faced, as well as, discuss four questions of thought. Off-the-Clock-WorkFrom 2000 to 2007, Wal-Mart has been in cou rt facing numerous law suits, in which they have paid out millions of dollars, for violation of laws surrounding non-payment of overtime compensation to its employees (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Several employees claimed that managers required them to work off the clock by requiring them to work after punching out their time card (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). If the employee refused to work after their shift and off the clock, then they would be threatened with termination of employment.One of the many complaints include the use of â€Å"lock-ins† (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). According to Stanwick and Stanwick (2009) they stated, â€Å"Managers would lock the doors after the store had closed and would force the workers to stay in the store until all the work had been completed† (p. 410). Employees were also told that if they could not complete their assigned work in their eight hour shift, that they would have to remain at work, off the clock, until their work was comp lete.It was evident that the mangers had no respect or appreciation for the employees, who should have been valued as stakeholders that contributed to the success of the store. Sexual Discrimination In 2001, Wal-Mart faced a lawsuit with regards to sexual discrimination for not promoting women to managerial positions and for not paying them a wage equivalent to what the male employees were making (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Some of the facts that supported the lawsuit include; 65% of the hourly employees and 33% of the managers were women, and on average women received 6. % less in wages than their male counterparts received (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). One example of discrimination included a female employe being told that a man was promoted over her, who was qualified, because the man had to support his family (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Another example of discrimination was when a women was told that a man was paid more becauase according to the Bible, Adam came before Eve. The managers involved in these and other sexual discrimination cases included in this lawsuit made poor ethical decsions by discriminating against its female employees.Health Benefits Stanwick and Stanwick (2009) mentioned, â€Å"In 2003 Wal-Mart’s policy of lower costs in every part of its operation was highlighted based on the type of health benefits that it offered to its employees† (p. 413). New employees had to wait six months before being eligible for the health care benefit, and retirees were not allowed to keep their benefit (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Wal-Mart’s payout for employee healthcare benefits in 2002, were 40% lower than the average that all companies in the U. S. ere paying and 30% less than their competive retailers (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). In an effort to keep health care costs down, Wal-Mart recommended to the board of directors that it should hire more part time employees and try to discourage unhealthy employees by requiring all employe e’s responsibilities to include some type of physical activity (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). It is evident that Wal-Mart’s board of directors and upper management were more concerned with profit than the welfare of the employees. The Role of the UnionsIn an effort to keep low prices for its customers, Wal-Mart kept its labor cost low (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). There has been a constant battle between Wal-Mart and its employees, who wanted to create a union. The purpose of the union was to ensure that employees, who were members of the union, would receive a wage that was competitive to others in the workforce. Stanwick and Stanwick (2009) stated, â€Å"In 2002 a comparison of wages for unionized workers and Wal-Mart employees showed that unionized Kroger employees would get four to five dollars an hour more than the Wal-Mart employees† (pgs. 15-416). It was discovered that Wal-Mart would discourage employees from forming unions, by firing those that promoted it (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Of the contrary, the Wal-Marts in China were allowed to have unions, as they received pressure from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions which is belived to be apart of Chinese Communist Government (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Use of Illegal Aliens In an efforet to keep their costs low everyday for its customers, Wal-Mart used a campaign slogan of â€Å"Roll Back the Prices,† but agian it came at the sacrifices of its employees.Wal-Mart outsourced to third party contractors to hire janitors to clean its stores afterhours (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). To keep cost down, these third party contractors, with Wal-Mart’s knowledge, hired illegal aliens to clean the stores afterhours (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). This was discovered after federal agents, from the Immigration Servive, raided sixty Wal-Mart stores in an operations called â€Å"Operation Rollback,† in 2003 (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009).As a result of the raid, more than 250 i llegal aliens were arrested, and Wal-Mart faced thiteen felony indictments and paid $5 million dollars in fines (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Some of the illegal aliens also filed lawsuits that claimed they were forced to work every night and did not receive compensation for overtime (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). This was not only a violation of federal law, it also showed a lack of the citizenship principle where every employee should respect the law (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009).Child and other Labor Laws From 2000-2005, Wal-Mart was faced with fines and lawsuits pertaining to violations of child and labor laws. It was identified by audits, that employees under the age of eighteen were working past midnight, working during school hours, and working more than eight hours a day (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Discovered were employees under the age of eighteen operating machinery that was dangerous, which included chainsaws and cardboard balers (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009).Also, exposed wer e employees who were not taking their breaks or given time off for a meal period (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Questions for Thought 1. Are the ethical issues Wal-Mart faces really any different from other large retailers? I don’t think the ethical issues facing Wal-Mart are any different than that of its competitors. I do believe though that since Wal-Mart is considered the largest retailer and it promises to keep the lowest prices everyday for its customers that they are misusing the reliability principle of taking care of its employees.Stanwick and Stanwick (2009) stated, â€Å"Traditional violations of the reliability principle would include breaching a promise or contract or not fulfilling a promised action† (p. 9). An example of this is when Wal-Mart managers did not pay their employees for working overtime. 2. Wal-Mart officials have stated that they don’t feel women are interested in management positions at the company. Do you agree or disagree? I disagre e. Based on the case study, it seems to me that women are discouraged from seeking positions in management through sexual discrimination.If women were not oppressed by comments such as a man needing the promotion over a qualified woman because he needed to support his family, or that a man works at Wal-Mart for a career and women do not, then they may feel more competitive for managerial positions (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Wal-Mart’s managers in this case demonstrated a failure in the dignity principle by not respecting all of its employees (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). 3. Wal-Mart is continually criticized for its health care policy. Is this really and ethical issue?Why or why not? I do not think that Wal-Mart’s health care policy is unethical and meets the requirement of the fairness principle. Of the four types of fairness’s: reciprocal, distributive, fair competition, and procedural fairness, they demonstrate the distributive fairness (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). They do provide both part time and full time employees with a choice to enroll in its health care policy and at different levels of coverage (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). The also have provided a health savings account for its employees.Stanwick and Stanwick (2009) stated, â€Å"In a Wal-Mart survey of 220,000 employees, it was found that 90% were covered using Wal-Mart’s health insurance† (p. 415). The 10% that did not have their insurance were either covered under their spouse’s insurance, insured by Medicaid, or through a military health insurance plan (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). 4. Should Wal-Mart be concerned about unionization of stores since allowing unionization of workers in China? Wal-Mart should be concerned about unionization in stores outside of China, as they have allowed it in China.This is a double standard that is not fair to the other Wal-Mart employees throughout the world. The case study identified that employees who were in favor of a union were either discouraged or terminated (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). The National Labor Relations Board, ordered Wal-Mart in 2003 to negotiate with former employees of the meat market, whom formed a union, to bring back the meat department that was originally closed when the employees formed a union (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009).This thought encompasses the values of the fairness principle, with regards to the reciprocal fairness (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Wal-Mart should address the thought of a union fairly as the employees seek a way to have competitive wages. Conclusion While Wal-Mart is considered to be one of the highest grossing retailers in the world, which strives to offer the lowest prices everyday to its customers, it has done so by adversely affecting their employees.The management’s efforts to keep prices down resulted in poor ethical choices which resulted in employees being forced to work beyond their normal working hours and not be compensated for their overtime. In addition, many employees were forced to work during their breaks or denied mealtime breaks, in which they were not compensated for either. Sexual discrimination was also an issue, as women were discouraged or discriminated against for seeking management level positions.Although Wal-Mart did offer health benefits to its employees, they were questionable and came at a high cost for low paid employees. Wal-Mart also set a double standard by allowing its stores in China to have a union, while it discouraged or terminated employees in other parts of the world who were in favor of developing a union. Child labor laws were another issue for Wal-Mart, as they required employees under the age of eighteen to work late at night, working during school hours, working more than eight hours a day, and operating dangerous equipment in some of its stores.The results of their unethical acts and violations of federal laws, has caused Wal-Mart to review its policies and identify ways to im prove its ethical principles concerning the treatment of its employees. Stanwick and Stanwick (2009) mentioned, â€Å"The managers at Wal-Mart agreed to meet with the ten rank-and-file workers every week from each of its 4,000 stores to get employee feedback† (p. 419). This program that Wal-Mart created is called â€Å"Associates out Front† (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Reference Stanwick, P. A. , & Stanwick, S. D. (2009). Understanding business ethics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Cross-Gender Communication as a Form of Intercultural...

Anita Mandura EN 102 Exam 1 June 16, 2011 Cross-Gender Communication as a Form of Intercultural Communication In our daily life we face male/female differences. We can hear almost every day a questions like: Do men and women speak the same language? Why doesnt he/she listen when I talk? He/she is like from another planet, isnt he/she? Men and women communicate and behave differently. Many factors like stereotypes and cultural backgrounds are included in creation of differences in gender communication. Good communication skills are hard to achieve; communication gaps are the biggest problem in misunderstanding the message. Good and effective communication can therefore be affected by many things including the situation, time,†¦show more content†¦Differences in verbal communication refer to word choice, voice patterns and speaker interruption. Women use less vulgar words, use different patterns of intonation, they are more likely to be kind and polite; women use more tags as well. Unlike women, men are more aggressive in communication, and they interrupt way more than woman. †¦ men were responsible for 96 per cent of interruptions in conversation between men and women (Hartley 188). Men focus on status and independence; women focus on intimacy and connection – a difference that makes communication between the sexes problematic (Aires 3). All this gender differences that are shown above lead us to stereotypical thinking about gender roles and how we ought to behave to be acceptable members of our gender; however, stereotypical thinking deepens the differences even more. Besides the social behavior, a serious numbers of conducted studies have shown that these differences do exist on the empirical base. Medical studies have shown differences in brain anatomy of males and females. Women have more gray matter in the left language hemisphere of the brain. This study results can explain the difference of male/female behavior and different verbal skills. According to Guatier et al (2009) †¦researchers in France have found differences amongst males and females groups on brain activation strength linked to verbal fluency (qtd.in Reiman 7).Show MoreRelatedUnderstanding Cultures And Intercultural Communication1512 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"Understanding cultures and intercultural communication in terms of countries and nationalities is no longer relevant or effective.† Evaluate this statement, referring to relevant theories and using examples where appropriate. 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Monday, December 30, 2019

Lowell Mill Girls Organize Early Womens Unions

In Massachusetts, the Lowell familys textile mills worked to attract the unmarried daughters of farm families, expecting them to work a few years before marriage. These young women factory workers were termed Lowell Mill Girls. Their average length of employment was three years. The factory owners and managers tried to allay family fears of allowing daughters to live away from home. The mills sponsored boarding houses and dormitories with strict rules, and sponsored cultural activities including a magazine, Lowell Offering. But working conditions were far from ideal. In 1826, an anonymous Lowell Mill worker wrote In vain do I try to soar in fancy and imagination above the dull reality around me but beyond the roof of the factory I cannot rise. As early as the 1830s, some mill workers used literary outlets to write of their discontent. The working conditions were difficult, and few girls stayed a long time, even if they did not leave to get married. In 1844, Lowell Mill factory workers organized the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association (LFLRA) to press for better pay and working conditions. Sarah Bagley became the first President of the LFLRA. Bagley testified about the working conditions before the Massachusetts house that same year. When the LFLRA was unable to bargain with the owners, they joined with the New England Workingmens Association. Despite its lack of significant effect, the LFLRA was the first organization of working women in the United States to try to bargain collectively for better conditions and higher pay. In the 1850s, economic downturns led the factories to pay lower wages, add more hours and eliminate some of the amenities. Irish immigrant women replaced the American farm girls on the factory floor. Some notable women who worked in the Lowell Mills: Sarah Bagley: Lowell Female Labor Reform Association organizer, first woman telegrapherLucy Larcom: poetHarriet Hanson Robinson: abolitionist and suffragistMargaret F. Foley: sculptor Some writings from the Lowell Mill workers: 1840, The Spirit of Discontent1844, from Lowell OfferingHarriet Robinson: Lowell Mill Girls

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Citizens Unite v FEC and its Repercussions Essay - 1040 Words

On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Citizens United v Federal Election Commission allowed for corporations and capitalist enterprises to be treated as individuals during an election period. This ruling allows corporations to spend or give an unlimited amount of money in contributions to their party or candidate of choice in any given election. With the loss of corporate financial regulations, our entire political system runs the risk of being corrupted by corporations whose sole objective is to satisfy its share-holders. This ruling affects all Americans their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. President Barack Obama had this to say about the ruling: The Supreme Court has given a†¦show more content†¦During local, state, or federal election there is a limited amount of time and information that a voter has to help him/her decide for which candidate he or she wants to vote. Before the ruling in Citizens United v FEC, private donations from voter s were needed to provide candidates with financial means to create commercials, billboards, etc. In turn, this gave the voters a voice in who is to lead their government. Corporations were limited in the amount they could provide to their candidate of choice. After the ruling, corporations can now match every private donation and contribute an unlimited amount on top of that in order to support their candidate. This creates a problem because a corporation can potentially suffocate voters with campaign ads without the other candidates ads being heard. Therefore creating an uneven debate and platform for Democracy to work. A corporations structure is designed to be financially profitable while presenting value to its share holders. The Cheif Financial Officer of a corporations job is to represent the shareholders and to increase current value in the corporations stock. This corporate mentality will force a CFO to cut down on working conditions, workers pay, and workers benefits if t he corporation is not as profitable as the shareholders desire. This poor treatment of workers peaked during the Progressive

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Manufacturing Case Study Free Essays

Manufacturing Industry Case Study Challenges in Manufacturing Industry Unions †¢HR teams must be familiar with contract language, when working in a unionized facility. In a non-union plant, an HR representative can speak directly with any member of the workforce when discipline issues arise, such as absenteeism or dress-code concerns. But when employees are union members, the union steward has to be present during those same discussions. We will write a custom essay sample on Manufacturing Case Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now Those cases that could be settled with a face-to-face talk between HR and the employee now have to be resolved through grievance procedures between the union and the HR department. At the same time, HR professionals find that enforcing employee policies are sometimes easier in a union shop, because unionized workers tend to be more familiar with the rules, according to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM). Safety †¢Safety awareness is a major HR issue in manufacturing, because of the considerable risks for job–related injuries or fatalities. In an office, someone might trip over a file cabinet. Here, people can get pulled into the machines and lose arms or legs. People can get killed,† HR Manager Kristi Schmidlap tells SHRM. Human Resource specialists devote a considerable amount of time in training employees to be proactive in keeping their work areas safe. HR departments have to be diligent in enforcing safety policies, such as dress-codes in factorie s, where long fingernails and hair represent danger among workers using heavy machinery. Human Resource employees also have to set examples, by consistently wearing hardhats, goggles and safety boots, when they walk through the plant. Communication †¢Most laborers in a manufacturing plant do not have computers or desks, which eliminates emails and on-line publications as methods of disseminating information. Instead, HR professionals must rely on bulletin board postings, notices stapled to paychecks or employee meetings. With three shifts in operation, the HR representative must schedule 5:30 A. M. essions to ensure that the third shift hears the same message as their first- and second-shift peers. HR departments spend more time explaining common policies than their counterparts in white-collar companies, because manufacturing employees cannot access handbooks and guides that are published on the Internet. This means more interaction between HR employees and the general workforce, especially during benefits enrollment periods, when factory employees who do not have access to company computers, need HR’s guidance in entering their selections on-line. How to cite Manufacturing Case Study, Free Case study samples

Friday, December 6, 2019

Sample Attachment Proposal free essay sample

I  am  also  highly  indebted  to  my  supervisors  Faisal  Shafait  and  Ilya   Mezhirov,  who  seemed  to  have  solutions  to  all  my  problems. Author The  report  presents  the  three  tasks  completed  during  summer  internship  at  IUPR   which  are  listed  below: 1. Detection    of    headlines    in    document    images    with    black    run ­lengths    and   OCRopus  performance  evaluation  in  detecting  headlines 2. Re ­engineering  the  zone ­classification  module 3. Evaluation  of  different  segmentation  algorithms  performance All  these  tasks  have  been  completed  successfully  and  results  were  according  to   expectations. The  detection   of   headlines  achieved  a  low  error  rate  of  2. 85%  as   against    6. 52    of    previously    used    methods. During    evaluation    of    segmentation   algorithms  XY ­cut  was  found  to  gain  a  lot  by  noise  cleanup,  which  is  an  interesting   result  as  it  strengthen  the  claim  of  XY ­cut  segmentation  algorithm  as  a  suitable   method    for    OCRopus. The    re ­engineering    and    porting    of    zone ­classification   module    to    OCRopus    makes    it    possible    for    OCRopus    to    have    a    text/image   segmentation  if  it  is  required  in  future. Author Abstract OCRopus  :  Introduction Though  the  field  of  optical  character  recognition(OCR)  is  considered  to  be  widely   explored,  the  development  of  an  efficient  system  for  use  in  real  world  situations   still  remains  a  challenge  for  developers. OCRopus  is  a  state ­of ­the ­art  document   analysis  and  OCR  system,  featuring  pluggable  layout  analysis,  pluggable  character   recognition,  statistical  natural  language  modeling,  multi ­lingual  capabilities  and  is   being  developed  at  IUPR. This  being  a  very  big  project,  I  was  assigned  the  tasks  of   developing  tools  for  layout ­analysis  and  evaluation. The  Goals: Following  goals  were  set  as  I  proceeded  in  my  work: 1. Conversion  of  ground ­truth ­data  in  MARG  database  from  XML  format   to  hOCR  micro ­format[1]. 2. Development  of  a  rule ­based  headline  detection  method  using  the  median   black  run ­length  of  the  lines. 3. Development    of    segmentation ­classification    module    and    evaluation    of   performance  of  different  segmentation  algorithms  as  against  noise. 1. XML  to  hOCR: hOCR    is    a    format    for    representing    OCR    output,    including    layout    information,   character    confidences,    bounding    boxes,    and    style    information. It    embeds    this   information    invisibly    in    standard    HTML. By    building    on    standard    HTML,    it   automatically    inherits    well ­defined    support    for    most    scripts,    languages,    and   common    layout    options. Furthermore,    unlike    previous    OCR    formats,    the recognized  text  and  OCR ­related  information  co ­exist  in  the  same  file  and  survives   editing  and  manipulation. hOCR  markup  is  independent  of  the  presentation. Due  to  all  above  qualities  of  hOCR  format,  it  is  highly  desirable  to  have  ground   truth  in  this  format. I  was  assigned  the  task  of  converting  the  MARG  database   ground  truth  into  hOCR  format. For  Ã‚  this  purpose  I  have  written  following  script. Script  Name  :  xml ­to ­hocr Language  Used:  Python Command ­line ­argument  form:  xml ­to ­hocr  FILE. XML FILE. XML  :  The  file  in  XML  format  to  be  converted  into  hOCR  micro  format. Note:    The    script    does    not    take    care    of    latex    characters    yet. It    would    be    an   improvement  to  incorporate  this  feature. 2. Headline  detection  Based  on  black  run ­length  and  its  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  integration   into  OCRopus: Detection  of  headlines  in  document  images  is  one  issue  that  is  mostly  overlooked   but  yet  is  highly  desirable  to  properly  format  the  output  of  OCR. OCRopus  had  till   now  used  a  rule  based  method  which  used  space  between  lines  as  the  criteria  for   detection  of  headlines. Though  this  method  worked  for  many  images,  it  also  failed   many  times. It  was  an  obvious  observation  that  black  run ­lengths  of  headlines  are   more  than  the  black  run ­length  of  the  normal  line,  and  we  tried  to  build  upon  this concept. We  used  median  black  run  length  of  a  line  as  the  deciding  criteria. The   median  was  used  instead  of  mean  because  mean  run  length  could  have  easily  been   affected  by  the  noise  merging  with  text  and  would  have  produce  errors. The  whole  approach  is  simple  as  discussed  below: 1. Calculate  the  median  black  run ­length  for  the  each  line  on  page. 2. Compare  this  run  length  for  each  line  with  the  lines  below  and  above  it. 3. If    black    run ­length    for   a    line   has    been   found   K1(a    parameter)    times    the   median   run ­length    of  line  below  it,  and  K2(another  parameter)  times  the   median  run ­length  of  the  line  above  it,set  it  as  a  headline. The  value  of  parameters  K1  and  K2  was  to  be  found  experimentally. After  many   times  evaluating  the  performance  of  the  program,  the  value  of  K1  and  K2  has  been   set  to  1. 5  and  1. 1  respectively. We  used  histogram  based  method  to  find  the  median  run ­length. A  histogram  of   the  number  of  occurrences  versus  run ­length  was  calculated,  once  we  have  such  a   histogram  we  normalize  it  with  the  largest  value  of  occurrence. Then  we  calculated   the  cumulative  distribution  function  for  this  normalized  histogram. The  point  when   cumulative  distribution  function  reches  a  value  of  0. 5,  corresponds  to  the  median   runlength. The    program    for   detection    of    headlines    was    written   in   C++    and   used    standard   OCRopus  classes. The  program  has  been  successfully  integrated  into  OCRopus  and Evaluation: We    also    designed    a    tool    which    evaluates    the    performance    of    the    OCRopus    in   detecting    headlines. As    according    to    OCRopus    standards,    this    tool    has    been   developed  to  work  with  files  in  hOCR  micro ­format. This  tool  comprises  of  two   programs: 1. The  first  program  takes  the  OCRopus  output  and  the  corresponding  ground   truth  file  in  hOCR  format  and     outputs  the  total  no  of  false  positives  and false  negatives  which  occurred  in  detection. It  also  outputs  the  total  no  of   true    headlines    which   are    present    in   the    ground ­truth. The    command    line   form  of  this  programs  is: