Telecommunications And Network Management Information Technology Essay

Telecommunications And Network Management Information Technology Essay Managing the resources like Information Technology, Telecommunications and Network Management is same as like building a home. The more work you take part and the more work you have to be finished. The people who are destroying cannot fix the works of plumbing and electrical works. So you should go for contractor to direct, watch and manage the whole project. The above condition is same for the IT Organizations. So, the Organization must have a contractor or supervisor to manage all its management functions within it. The contractors or supervisors to manage the network management functions within Organization are FCAPS and ITIL (Information Technology Management). This paper mainly explains about the frameworks or models FCAPS and ITIL, their Life cycles and also their reliable services and also explained briefly about the TMN Model. The Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance and Security managements are commonly known as FCAPS. FCAPS is a model but not a product and it is developed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and FCAPS is migrating its managements from reactive state to proactive state. And also explains detailed description about Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and their reliable services. ITIL provided services for the IT organisations to meet their business requirement needs and goals and it has set of best practices for managing IT Service Management. IT plays very important role in the organizations business processes. ITIL put the organisations business process goals in a place and providing measurement process for those goals. However there are lot of confusions in the IT Organizations about these frameworks (FCAPS and ITIL). Some of the professional think that they are alternate approaches to reach the same goal. But some other professionals think that they are mutually exclusive. There are lot more confusions and comparisons about these frameworks. But now many of the IT Organizations are adopting ITIL because of greater flexibilities of their services. Keywords: FCAPS, ITIL, ITIL Services and Information Technology Service Management (ITSM), TMN, ITU. Introduction: The network management is used to maintain the large number of networks, and those are often in the areas such as telecommunications and computers. The network management is mainly executes the functions such as security, deployment, monitoring, controlling, allocating, coordination and planning. Why Network Management Models? The network management is very complicate to implement. So, in order to work the total network management perfectly we are breaking down network functions into the smaller chunks. By implementing these smaller chunks we can get the total management of the networks. For implementing all the network management functions we are using the network models. Those are TMN (Telecommunications Management Network) FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security Management) ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) All these models mainly involved in the business management in IT (Information Technology) organization and providing reliable or robust information infrastructure services to it is a main criteria of the network models. Many multinational companies considering these network models in top 10 position but they are not giving top position. But the interesting thing is that some of the companies are not giving priority for these network Models for their business management. So, by this effect the companies are providing their services to customers below 20% and also the delivered products also not working more than 3 years. So the companies need to follow the Network Models for providing robust and reliable services to the clients and employees. FCAPS Model is running efficiently with TMN layer but more is needed from this or extra version of this model. And below explained more details about the network models. TMN (Telecommunications Management Network) Model: TMN is Telecommunication Management Network. The standard model was first developed by ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union- Telecommunications) in the year of 1993 and was updated in the year 1996. ITU-T recommended this model as a framework where service providers provide their services to deliver to the networks. It has provided layered architecture for different levels of abstraction. The layered architecture as below BML-Business Management Layer SML-Service Management Layer NML-Network Management Layer EML-Element Management Layer The above layered architecture is the TMN logical layered architecture. By using this layered model architecture we can understand clearly how the IT Services depend on the network layers for their business needs and for better performance. FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security) Model: FCAPS was developed by the ITU-T in addition to the TMN layered architecture in the year of 1997. FCAPS is a model but not a product. The ITU-T initially developed this model for assisting how to manage telecommunication networks. It was also an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) model for the network management. The FCAPS framework is also called as Open System Interconnect (OSI) Network Management Model for network management implementations. This works based on TMN Layer and performs their functionality at each and every stage of TMN architecture layer. FCAPS Management: The Standard Model FCAPS management depends on OSI (Open System Interconnect). The OSI specifies five key areas which are under the FCAPS model. Those are Fault Management, Configuration Management, Accounting Management, Performance Management, and Security Management. F-Fault Management C- Configuration Management A- Accounting Management P- Performance Management S- Security Management Fault Management (F): In this functional area it is used as analysis of alarms and faults in the network. The network has ability to identify and isolate problems and providing information to appropriate person whom to deal with the problems. In this the network is always in a running status and the downtime is minimized. The Fault management is the well known area of the network management. More Functionalities of Fault Management are: Fault detection, clear correction, fault correction, network recovery, fault isolation, alarm handling, alarm filtering, alarm generation, diagnostic test, error logging, error handling and error statistics. EX: CiscoWorks LMS (LAN Management Solution) Device Fault Manager (DFM). CiscoWorks LMS (LAN Management Solution) Device Centre for troubleshooting. Configuration Management (C): In the configuration management functional area the network is controlled and monitored and maintaining the status of the networks. Installing new components against the old components and maintained carefully by managing, recording and performing. In this area the main operations are routing tables, Service set identifier assignment, IP addressing scheme and maintain the information on the devices. One of the most important things a network manager can maintain a good network health by managing the device configurations. More functionalities of Configuration Management are: Resource initialization, network provisioning, auto discovery, backup and restore, resource shut down, change management, pre-provisioning, inventory management, copy configuration, remote configuration, job initiation and automated software distribution. EX: CiscoWorks LMS (LAN Management Solution) Resource Manager Essential (RME). LMS Campus Manager. LMS Cisco View. Accounting Management (A): The accounting management level is also called as allocation level. In this the network manager gathers the user usage statistics and allocation of costs associated with the bills per time and providing services by the devices. One more privilege of accounting management is that allows actions of users and better use of available resources. More functionalities of accounting management are: supporting for different modes of accounting, audits, set quotes for usage, tracking the service, cost of the service, accounting limit, combine cost for more devices, fraud reporting. EX: Cisco Access Control Server (ACS) combined with LMS (LAN Management Solution) and NCM (Network Configuration Management). Performance Management (P): The performance of the networks depends upon the quality of networks and system statistics (Configurations). For better performance, the network collects the data, maintaining the proper utilization of data, free from errors, maintaining the response time when the data is tracked and finally availability of data. Performance management is as simple as monitoring CPU and also as complex as end to end application monitoring. More functionalities of Performance Management are: consistent performance level, performance data generation, and problem reporting, performance data collection, and static collection, performance data analysis, capacity planning and examining historical logs. EX: CiscoWorks LMS (LAN Management Solution) Internet Performance Monitor (IPM). LMS: Device Fault Manager (DFM). Security Management (S): The Security Management functional area defines the process and procedures for network security by protecting the network from hackers and unauthorised users. We should have to hide the information to the unknown users possibly. The network administrator can control individual user what he can do and what he cannot do with the system. More functionalities of Security Management are: resource access, data privacy, access logs, enable NE functions, user access rights checking, security alarm for event reporting, takes care of security, security audit trail log and security related information distribution. EX: Cisco Access Control Server (ACS). LMS depends on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and other security Audits. Where does FCAPS fit? All the managements under the FCAPS are applicable to manage the applications. But managing the application is not same that managing a network. The applications have a set of problems that are affected by the network. EX: VoIP Management using FCAPS FCAPS model is applicable for the life cycle of VoIP / IPT (Voice over Internet Protocol / information Protocol Telephony). But dont think this model is only applicable for the VoIP. VoIP is a application but not a network. This is also applicable in four stages of IT project life cycle. Those are planning, designing, deployment and in operational. FCAPS on other IT Services: For all key factors of FCAPS framework has provided extended functionalities. The extended functionalities of FCAPS also called as ITEF (Information Technology Extended Framework). The functionalities provided in the FCAPS are developed independent of operating system and any application type. Those functionalities can work in any operating system, any applications types and support for different types of IT services. The extended functionalities for FCAPS on IT services are like a tree view structure so the consumer easily navigate to detailed level if he needed. The structure of FCAPS functionalities are given below. The extended functionalities provided by the FCAPS are used in different types of organizations particularly for the IT Services. The IT service document mainly describes the category of coverage and individual services described in the IT management. EX: Change Management in Configuration Management: The change management is the extended functionality under the configuration management. It is for the authorizing, recording, monitoring and reporting all the services to the Open System environment. The primary responsibilities provided in the change management system are Auditable mechanism for handling all changes within the integrated management system. Review process for all authorising changes. Process for all changes tested and validated. Creating a mechanism for review change for not authorised from the change management process. ITSM (Information Technology Service Model): The IT Service Model is providing very important roles for the ITEF (Information Technology Extended Framework). The main structure of IT Service Model as below Fault Management | Backup Recovery | Disaster Recovery | User data restoration | Policy Chargeback Service Levels | Procedures Escalation Service Request This ITSM (Information Technology Service Model) can be implemented in all the platforms to create the Service Level descriptions and to create SLAs (Service Level Agreements) between the IT resource provider organizations and the end-user consumer organizations. The below example explains the sample Service Level Description of IT Service user data backup can be used as a guideline and should be modified and compatible to local data centre policies and conventions. Service Name: User data backup Schedule of the Service: Maintenance Window Task. Service Levels: Mission Critical Level: The user data will be stored in the central management backup system where data will be stored in daily based services. So, we can get the data backup from the central management system. They will be charge you for getting the user data to back. Charge for backup data in Mission Critical level The cost will be 1000$ + 8$ per 100 GB capacity of data per one month. Business Critical Level: In the business critical level the user data will be stored in to the central management backup system on weekly basis and daily incremental services. The cost will be quite less when compared to the mission critical level. Charge for backup data in Business critical level The cost will be 500Â £ + 60$ per 100GB capacity of data per a one month. Business Support Level: In the business support level the user data will be store in to the local attached file system on weekly basis and daily incremental basis. The cost will be very low compared to the mission critical and business critical levels. Charge for backup data in Business Support level The cost will be 200$ + 40$ per 100GB capacity of data per a one month. Applying ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library): While FCAPS is a great model to defining and understanding of the Network Management objectives, and another framework come in for giving best services for network management with the alignment of current IT organization structure and expands to the FCAPS framework Model. That is ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). The Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) from United Kingdom created the ITIL in the year of 1978 to grown up the Information Technology to meet the business needs and goals. This is developed by the experienced and talented people in the UK and by the practitioners in worldwide. The IBM Company is using the ITIL libraries for the best practices and then the official versions of the ITIL beginning to release. The latest version is ITIL v3 which was released in the year of 2007. This ITIL is customizable framework for giving quality services and avoiding some faults in the current Information Technology. The ITIL can be used for better IT Service independent of type and size of the organization, multinational or Region Company, centralised or decentralised IT provision, an IT company with only one employee. The ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) has seven steps to implement. Those are Service Support, Service Delivery, and Planning to implement Service Management, Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Management, Application Management, Security Management and the business prospective. The main component of ITSM (Information Technology Service Management) is divided into following different sections. Those are ITIL Service Delivery ITIL Service Support ITIL Security Management ITIL Information Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Management ITIL Application Management ITIL Software Asset Management The Business Prospective. ITIL Service Delivery: The Service Delivery is the key factor in providing the services over the network and should be able to deliver consistently. And it is also used for managing the IT Services and involvement of number of IT Service management practices agreed between the service provider and the customer. Service Delivery has 5 disciplines. Those are Service Level Management Capacity Management Continuity Management Availability Management IT Financial Management The Service Level Management is mainly concentrates on the monitoring and identification of IT services provided in the SLAs (Service Level Agreements). It is also used to provide arrangements with the external service suppliers and the internal service providers in the form of an OLAs (Operational Level Agreements). Responsibility of Service Level Management is to take care of agreed IT services to supply to the appropriate persons or organizations within the time management. The Capacity Management is defending the cost effective and the best IT services by helping the organizations in order to match their business needs. The activities of Capacity Management are Workload Management, Capacity Planning, Resource Management, Performance Management, Modelling, Demand Managements and Application Size. The Continuity Management is supports the proactive measurement of IT Service. It easily identifies the error before get to process so that makes the IT Service can in continuous way. The Responsibility of Continuity Management is performing the risk management to identify threats, assets for each IT Service and also able to give options of the recovering the IT Service. The Availability Management is targets the industries or organizations should check out the availability of IT Services with low cost to run the organization in a perfect way. The activity of the Availability Management is mainly concentrates on reliability, Serviceability, Resilience, Security and maintainability of the IT Services. The Finance Management is ensuring that the infrastructure of the IT Organization is cost effective. We used to calculating the cost of the IT services often so that we can estimate the cost of the IT services in the organization. We can recover the costs by providing the customer services to the customers. ITIL Service Support: ITIL Service Support is the most typical Network Operation Centre (NOC) in all organizations. This is mainly concentrates on applications those are required by the end users. The operations are troubleshooting, supporting new applications over the network and help desk. The best practice of those Service Delivery disciplines that is used to enable the IT services to work effectively. ITIL Service Support has 6 disciplines. Those are Configuration Management Incident Management Problem Management Change Management Service / Help Desk Release Management. In the above disciplines the Problem Management identifying the applications which have some faults and giving troubleshooting speciality of those applications to run perfectly and also solves performance problems in the environment. To solve the problems in the network environment by troubleshooting you will be having good understanding of networks and their configurations are required. We can get those configurations by using another discipline using configuration management for this we have to refer configuration management database. The change management is involves with the both problem management and configuration management. If the management has made problems with the infrastructure so definitely there will be changes with the configuration then some problem raised with the configuration. The service will be help full in implementing other factors like PC to client PC installations and implementation and designing of networks and some other duties. The total 11 ITIL disciplines are used for reducing the costs, to work operations effectively, and for better alignment of IT and business needs and goals. ITIL Security Management: The most important key role for the network management is the security. The external hackers or threats access data through firewalls and based on access permissions. We can gain the security by using proper configuration of network rights and permissions to the users that make the unauthorised users cannot access the data from end users. ITIL Infrastructure Management: The Infrastructure Management is concentrates on installations and configurations of network designs in the organizations. Generally in the big organizations the designing and troubleshooting of networks are treated as separate entity than the installation equipment. So that is the reason for IT organizations required accurate configurations. ITIL Application Management: The application management is mainly concentrated on whether the application is able to configure and design to implement in the organization environment or not. Some applications are giving late signals and not providing some other links in it. So this maintains the proper application providing suitable services delivered to the end users. ITIL Software Asset Management: The ITIL Software Asset Management is essential for every organization. This is mainly deals with the installation steps for software, their license periods and also giving some partial configuration of that particular software. It gives so much information before going to install software and also providing in how many instances a software can install in a drive. This is essential for a big or small organization to run IT operations. So, this is very important for the network management. In the version ITIL v2 only two developed modules of Service support for IT Services and Service Delivery of IT Services are included. But in the next and the latest version ITIL v3 has included lot of modules which will help to increase the efficiency of IT Services and their business needs. Even though it has included lot of services to increase the IT standards to the top level but some disadvantages are there to decrease the services. Comparisons of FCAPS and ITIL frameworks: If we understand both FCPAS and ITIL frameworks that are overlapped with some concepts while addressing. In both the frameworks, they have completed their stages which are not associated with the specific instance. Initially the FCAPS model is mainly concentrates on the different types of management levels with the help of TMN layered network model. But another important framework ITIL is mainly concentrates on the IT Organization to run efficiently with the help of their suitable services. There are lot of advantages and inconsiderable disadvantages in both of the frameworks. Still the professionals have confusion about what to start? And which framework is suitable for their organization? Now International Organizations are adopting the ITIL frameworks within the organization for great success of their services and much more savings of money while operating it. Why ITIL and Why not FCAPS: Initially all the international organizations using the FCAPS model and later on it was dominated and get down by the latest model that is ITIL. Now every Organization looking to implement the new things within the money management, and they have observed that ITIL is the better option to reduce their expenses when compared to FCAPS model. So, this is one of the key successes of ITIL. One more factor supports the ITIL, ITIL is used to manage and organize different IT deportments of problems at a time with one comprehensive volume. Where as in FCAPS we have consider the deportment separately and recovered from the problems. Another factor that let down the FCAPS service is that in the traditional environment of FCAPS model is a wired network with clear description of hierarchical architecture with deterministic behaviour of end points. Unlike WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks), there are some factors effecting the wired network environment. But on the other side wireless networks which rules the world and many factors effect on it. By using wireless based networks they can change dynamically IP (Internet Protocol) address, location and status of their connectivity. But the dynamic nature of Clients connectivity is not a fault there is no client specific management in the FCAPS. FCAPS is a useful tool and this can be used in the traditional environment but cannot be used in the wireless related networks. Another beef of FCAPS that will tells you if there is a problem raised in the services of network management but it wont tell the address of the problem, how to repair it and how to resolve complex situation at the same time. ITIL has gained the tremendous success when it was executed in different organisations under different circumstances in different parts of the world. Even though ITIL has lot of advantages for IT Management but there are some inconsiderable disadvantages that are raised by the IT professionals. ITIL is comprehensive to implement the IT Management. The publications of ITIL are also saying that it is not holistic to implement IT. Another disadvantage raised by the IT Professionals that is even though ITIL is mostly accepted by the IT Managers for business needs this led to skip some of the pragmatic solutions for their business needs and this is unacceptable. The FCAPS model can handle fault and configuration management perfectly but the organizations depend on other tools to implement security related issues. The ITIL deals total managements including security clearly. Conclusion: NMRU is Network Management R Us is prestigious company in the UK. All Network Management companies must follow the network management models like TMN, FCAPS and ITIL for better performance, security, identifying and solving future network problems. The company currently NMRU using the FCAPS model and this model usually layered with TMN. There are new features arrived in the UK Public Sector and now wanted to migrate to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

Picking Cotton by David Graves Essay

Abstract This story is about two people, two victims of crime. Two people that suffered from circumstance and circumstantial evidence. Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson are these two people. This story is about the way circumstantial evidence convicts and the way DNA exonerates. Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson are living the ultimate human story. It is one of error, recognizing it and being redeemed. Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson were living in Piedmont North Carolina during the crime. Anyone who has lived there in the past twenty years knows their names, but probably not their entire story. In 1984, Jennifer Thompson was 22 when a man broke into her house and raped her. As the man assaulted her, she studied and memorized his face, as well as his voice, and everything she could about him. Jennifer’s intention was to survive, and when the assault was over, she wanted to put him in prison for the rest of his life for what he did to her. After Jennifer was treated for her injuries she helped the police draw a composite sketch of the man who raped her. The Police Department of Alamance County had never seen a victim so composed, so determined and so sure. Just a few hours after her horrifying ordeal, after the emotionless doctor swabbed her vagina for semen samples at the hospital, Jennifer sat down at the police station with Detective Mike Gauldin. â€Å"The first comment I remember her making was that, â€Å"I’m going to get this guy that did this to me.† She said, â€Å"I took the time to look at him. I will be able to identify him if I’m given an opportunity,† Gauldin remembered her saying (Hansen, 2001). She began combing through photos, trying to help come up with a composite of her rapist. The sketch went out, and tips started pouring in. One of those tips was about Ronald Cotton. Three days after the rape, Detective Gauldin called Jennifer in to the police station to do a photo lineup. Detective Gauldin lay six photos down on the table. The Detective said that Jennifer did not immediately identify a photo from the photo lineup. She took her time and studied each picture carefully. â€Å"I can remember almost feeling like I was at an SAT test. You know, where you start narrowing down your choices. You can discount A and B,† Jennifer said. She picked out Ronald Cotton’s photo. Cotton heard the news from his mother’s boyfriend. He told me, â€Å"Ron, the police are looking for you.† And I said, â€Å"For what?† And he told me, â€Å"For rape.† And I said, â€Å"I haven’t committed such a crime like that,† Cotton said (Finkelstein, 2009). Ronald Cotton gave Detective Gauldin a very detailed account of where he was, and who he was with that night. As it turned out the statement that Ronald Cotton had given to the Detective was false. He later realized that he had gotten his weekends mixed up. By this point it was t oo late. His honest mistake gave them more reason to think that he was lying, and if he was lying about his whereabouts on the night of the rape, what else was he lying about? The day he went back to the police station to clear his name, was August 1, 1984. He did not get the chance. He was arrested. Ronald Cotton was not going to get to leave. He was getting locked up, and days later he was put in a physical lineup. â€Å"I’m number five,† Cotton remembered. â€Å"I was very scared, nervous. I was so nervous, I was trembling. I felt my body just shaking† (Finkelstein, 2009). A week later, Jennifer sat across a table from six men that were holding numbered cards. She picked No. 5. And with the words, â€Å"That’s my rapist, Detective Gauldin,† she changed another’s existence as well as her own forever. On August 1, 1984, Ronald Cotton was arrested for the rape that had been committed against Jennifer Thompson. In a week-long trial, the jury heard about Cotton’s faulty alibi, his clothing that matched Thompson description, and a piece of foam found on her floor that seemed to come from one of his shoes. And most powerful, they had heard from Jennifer Thompson. In court, when she was asked if she recognized her rapist, she had named Ronald Cotton. â€Å"She called my name, pointed a finger. And that’s all, that’s all it takes, it seemed like,† Cotton said, â€Å"It felt like someone pushing a knife through me† (Hansen, 2001). Her testimony was extremely powerful. Even Ronald Cotton could feel the jury sympathize with her. He himself even sympathized for her. In silent terror, he watched as the system labeled him a rapist. He was only 22 years old, and the world that he had foreseen and dreamed about, all his plans were over now for a crime he did no t commit. The Prosecutor’s evidence at trial was all circumstantial evidence; however they had an eyewitness, Jennifer Thompson. The Defense Team had Ronald Cotton’s alibi, which was supported by family members. They tried to allow the jury to hear the evidence about the second rape victim that night, but the jury was not allowed to hear that evidence, or to hear that the second victim failed to pick Cotton out of photos that the police had showed to her, as well as the police lineup. The prosecution based its case on several points and used circumstantial evidence to obtain their conviction. These included; photo identification by one of the victims, police lineup identification made by one of the victims, a flashlight in Cotton’s home resembled the one used by the assailant and rubber from Cotton’s tennis shoe was consistent with rubber found at one of the crime scenes. â€Å"It took the jury just 40 minutes to reach a verdict: guilty on all counts. â€Å"He was sentenced to life and 50 years. That was when Jennifer Thompson realized the justice system worked. Ronald Cotton was handcuffed, shackled, and taken to North Carolina’s Central Prison. He was just 22 years old. â€Å"You know they say grown men don’t cry, but it’s a lie you know. I grabbed my pillow many times and hugged it, wishing I was hugging my mom, my dad, sister, brother. Wish it didn’t have to be this way,† said Ronald Cotton (Finkelstein, 2009). On Jan. 17, 1985, Ronald Cotton was sentenced to life in prison. Ronald Cotton was convicted by a jury of his peers of one count of rape and one count of burglary. As Ronald Cotton was lead off to prison he said, â€Å"I say the truth will come to light and the Lord knows I am an innocent man. Someday, somewhere, the truth is going to come out in my case.† While he was in prison, Cotton spent his days and nights writing letters to lawyers, newspapers, and to anyone who would li sten to him. He would do anything to get a new trial. Ronald Cotton tried to believe what his father kept telling him – which was, â€Å"that someday justice would prevail†. Then it happened. One day as he watched a new inmate being brought in, he had a strange feeling come over him. He wanted to know more about him, who he was, where he came from, so Cotton approached him. â€Å"I said, ‘Excuse me. You look familiar. Where are you from?† He told Cotton, â€Å"I’m from Burlington.† Cotton told him, â€Å"I am too.† I told him that, â€Å"You kind of resembling the drawing of a suspect in a crime in which I’m falsely imprisoned for. Did you commit this crime?† And he told me, â€Å"no, I did not,† remembers Cotton (Finkelstein, 2009). Cotton understood immediately why he felt the way he did upon seeing the man for the first time. He thought of the composite drawing when he saw the inmate. The inmate’s name was Bobby Poole, and he was serving consecutive life sentences for a series of brutal rapes. He also started working in the prison kitchen too. â€Å"The stewards were calling me Poole instead of Cotton,† Cotton said. People were constantly mistaking the two men for each other. During many of the years he spent in prison, Cotton actually knew who the real rapist was. The two bore a striking physical resemblance to one another, and to the police sketch of Thompson’s attacker. While in prison a fellow inmate heard Poole going around bragging to other inmates that Cotton was doing some of his time for a rape that he had committed. Eventually an inmate told Cotton that he’d heard Bobby Poole admit to raping Jennifer Thompson and the other woman that night. Ronald Cotton was in prison for this rape, a rape that he was convicted of, and the rape that sentenced him to life plus fifty ye ars, a rape that he did not commit. Ronald Cotton was full of rage. He was angry. Cotton hated Poole. He decided to make a blade out of a piece of metal. He was going to kill him. Cotton told his dad of his plans and Cotton’s father begged him not to. â€Å"Put your faith in God,† his father said. â€Å"If you kill Bobby Poole, then you really do belong behind these bars† (Finkelstein, 2009).So Cotton eventually threw his blade away and his plans to kill Bobby Poole. Cotton’s attorney filed an appeal. On appeal, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned Cotton’s 1985 conviction because the second victim had picked another man out of the lineup. The trial court had not allowed this evidence to be heard by the jury. An appeals court had ruled in Cotton’s favor stating that evidence relating to the second victim should have been allowed in the first trial. Ronald Cotton had won himself a new trial, and his heart filled with hope. The new trial began in November 1987. Ronald Cotton was retried, this time for both rapes and burglaries, because the second victim had decided that now Cotton was her assailant. The witnesses would get a look at Bobby Poole, who was subpoenaed by Cotton’s lawyer. They would hear the evidence from prison informants, about him admitting to these two crimes. The informants would tell their compelling stories about the rapes that they had heard Poole so proudly boast about, the story that the public did not know. They would tell the story that the real rapist told them. Things the rapist would only have known. Cotton was excited, even confident, the trial began to look as though it was going his way. Finally, Cotton thought, he would be set free, he would be exonerated, and finally everyone was going to see the truth. He was not the rapist. However he had forgotten the power of Jennifer Thompson. Back on the stand, Jennifer Thompson was as confident as ever. She looked directly at Poole and then she looked directly a t Cotton. He was fifteen feet away from her and he could still feel the hatred in her heart that she had for him. Ronald Cotton is the man who raped me, she told the jury. It was not Bobby Poole. The Prosecution and defense asked her, Are you sure? And confidently she said, Yes, I’m sure. The second victim was less convincing, but she also pointed to him, too. Cotton’s lawyers called Bobby Poole to the stand with Thompson sitting right there. It was the moment Cotton had been hoping for. They tried to trigger her memory, by allowing her to see him up close, by allowing her to hear his voice. It was Cottons last hope, but nothing; she was too convinced that Cotton had raped her. So they tried to get him to break, but he did not. He denied the rapes and with that he sealed Ronald Cotton’s fate. An innocent man was living inside the shell of a convicted rapist. It was all over for Cotton. Cotton knew it; he knew that he would be convicted. The court fell silent as Ronald Cott on was sentenced again. He was convicted of both rapes and two counts of burglary. This time an Alamance County Superior Court sentenced Cotton to two life sentences plus fifty-four years. Ronald Cotton was convicted twice by eyewitness testimony. Seven more years went by, and then everyone in Central Prison was riveted by a big news story: the trial of O.J. Simpson. Cotton’s big break came in 1995 while he was watching the O.J. Simpson trial on television. â€Å"I would get my radio and put my earplugs in, and go outside, and sit in a corner,† Cotton said. There, he’d listen to the trial. He was intrigued by something he’d never heard of: DNA. The Attorneys and investigators kept talking about DNA evidence, something he had never heard of before. DNA was still in its infancy when he received his convictions and it was not used in his trial. He got an idea and he contacted his new attorneys. In 1994, the chief appellate defender had requested that two new lawyers take over Cotton ’s defense. Richard Rosen, a professor at the University Of North Carolina School Of Law, agreed to represent Cotton. He wrote to his new attorney, law professor Rich Rosen. Rosen warned him that there probably wasn’t any evidence left to test, and if there was, DNA could cut both ways. â€Å"Understand if the DNA comes back and shows that you did this crime, whatever legal issues we have don’t make any bit of difference. You’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison,† Rosen said. Cotton told him â€Å"to go with it† (Finkelstein, 2009). The lawyers filed a motion for appropriate relief on the grounds of inadequate appeal counsel. The lawyers also filed a motion for DNA testing that Cotton had been so adamant on getting. DNA testing was granted in October 1994. Packed away on the shelves of the Burlington Police Department was 11-year-old evidence from the two rapes that night. In the spring of 1995, the Burlington Police Department turned over all evidence that contained the assailant’s semen for DNA testing. Luckily, Burlington Police Detective Gauldin had preserved the biological material in the case, although there was no legal requirement for it to be maintained. Inside one of the rape kits was a fragment of a single sperm with viable DNA. The samples from one of the victim’s was too deteriorated to be conclusive, but the samples from the other victim’s vaginal swab and underwear were subjected to PCR based DNA testing. They were able to recover one tiny sample of sperm from the rape kit that had been used to treat Jennifer Thompson 11 years earlier. The DNA sample showed no match to Cotton (Celizic, 2009). At the defense’s request, the results were sent to the State Bureau of Investigation’s DNA database, containing the DNA patterns of convicted violent felons in the North Carolina prison system. The state’s database showed a match with the convict who had earlier confessed to the crime. There was enough DNA in the sample to prove Cotton was innocent and Poole was guilty. Then, under questioning by Detective Gauldin, Poole confessed to both rapes. In May 1995 when the official DNA results were reported, the prosecution joined Rosen in a motion to drop all charges. Judge McLelland granted the motion. Cotton was officially cleared of all charges on June 30, 1995 and he was released from prison in July 1995. And just like that, Cotton was a free man. Cotton received a gubernatorial pardon based on innocence the following month. In July 1995, the governor of North Carolina officially pardoned Cotton. Cotton had served 10.5 years of his sentence. Cotton began the difficult task of beginning a new life. When he was first released from prison 17 years ago, Cotton’s first job was with the DNA Company that conducted the tests that exonerated him. He now works for a company that makes insulation. He’s been married for 15 years and has a 14-year-old daughter. They live in a house paid for with restitution money from the state of North Carolina: $10,000 for each of the 11 years he spent in prison. Jennifer Thompson has also moved on. She is married and has three children. She and Cotton talk often. â€Å"He is an amazing human being. He has been a real good teacher for me.† He has helped me so much. Ron has taught me about forgiveness, and healing, and faith† (Hansen, 2001). Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson are now friends. In fact, they’ve written a book together: â€Å"Picking Cotton: A Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.† They sometimes travel together giving talks about the ways memory can deceive us, and they are working to change the way police conduct photo lineups (Connors, et al, 1998). They are also a testament to the power of the human spirit. When DNA evidence ultimately proved that another man committed the rape and Cotton was freed, Thompson was consumed by guilt and shame. However, Cotton talks about in the book that they wrote together, that he had long since forgiven her. â€Å"I couldn’t carry on serving my time in the prison system holding grudges and thinking about retaliating against a person that made an honest mistake. I had to proceed on in life regardless,† he told Vieira (Hansen, 2001). When I found out that I was going to be released from prison I was shocked. I almost did not believe it. â€Å"It was like a dream come true. I couldn’t belie ve it,† Cotton told Vieira. â€Å"The warden of the penitentiary called me in his office and told me I was going home tomorrow. I told him, â€Å"Please don’t pull my leg, it’s already long enough.† But it was true. I finally went home to be with my family and loved ones. The day I had prayed so hard for had finally come and it was not just in my dreams (Hansen, 2001). To jurors the point of the finger identifying a perpetrator is damaging evidence and mistakes can be made. However, now there is one type of evidence that’s even more persuasive: DNA. There have been 235 people exonerated by DNA in this country and now a stunning pattern has emerged: more than three quarters of them were sent to prison at least in part because an eyewitness pointed a finger – an eyewitness we now know was wrong (Torneo, 2009). Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and the man she mistakenly put in prison, Ronald Cotton is a tale about pain and redemption — and the tricks that memory can play on people with the best of intentions. â€Å"This can happen to anyone. And hopefully it does not happen to them,† Cotton told Vieira (Hansen, 2001). One of the most amazing things that have come out of this injustice is the most unlikely of friendships. He was sentenced to life in prison for a rape he did not commit by a woman who he now calls his friend. The two of them are truly inspiring, and the two of them were both victims. References Celizic, M. (2009, March 10). She sent him to jail for rape; now they’re friends. In NBCNEWS.com. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29613178/ns/today-today_news/t/she-sent-him-jail-rape-now-theyre-friends/ Connors, E., Lundregan, T., Miller, N., & McEwen, T. (1998). Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial. Institute for Psychological Therapies. 10. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://www.iptforensics.com/journal/volume10/j10_3_6_8.htm Finkelstein, S. (2009, July 12). Eyewitness: How Accurate Is Visual Memory? In CBSNEWS. Retrieved November 28, 2012, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/06/60minutes/main4848039_page6.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody Hansen, M. (2001). Forensic Science: Scoping out eyewitness Ids (Master’s thesis). April Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://nersp.osg.ufl.edu/~malavet/evidence/notes/thompson_cotton.htm Thompson-Cannin o, J., Cotton, R., & Torneo, E. (2009). Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://www.pickingcottonbook.com/splash.html

Origin of the Word Protestant

A Protestant is someone who follows one of the numerous branches of Protestantism, the form of Christianity that was created during the Reformation of the 16th century and spread across Europe (and later, the world). The term Protestant came into use in the 16th century and, unlike many historical terms, you can work out what it means with a little bit of guesswork: it is, quite simply, all about protest. To be a Protestant was, essentially, to be a protestor. Where Does the Word Protestant Come From? In 1517, the theologian Martin Luther spoke out against the established Latin Church in Europe on the subject of indulgences. There had been many critics of the Catholic Church before, and many had been crushed easily by the monolithic central structure. Some had been burned, and Luther faced their fate by starting an open war. But the anger at many aspects of a church considered corrupt and venal was growing, and when Luther nailed his theses to a church door (an established way of starting a debate), he found he could gain patrons strong enough to protect him. As the Pope decided how best to deal with Luther, the theologian and his colleagues effectively evolved a new form of the Christian religion in a series of writings that were exciting, frenzied, and which would be revolutionary. This new form (or rather, new forms) was taken up by many princes and towns of the German empire. Debate ensued, with the Pope, Emperor, and Catholic governments on one side and members of the new church on the other. This sometimes involved genuine debate in the traditional sense of people standing, speaking their views, and letting another person follow, and sometimes involved the sharp end of weapons. The debate covered all of Europe and beyond. In 1526, a meeting of the Reichstag (in practice, a form of German imperial parliament) issued the Recess of 27 August, stating that each individual government within the empire could decide which religion they wished to follow. It would have been a triumph of religious freedom, had it lasted. However, a new Reichstag which met in 1529 was not so amenable to the Lutherans, and the Emperor canceled the Recess. In response, the followers of the new church issued the Protest, which protested against the cancellation on April 19th. Despite differences in their theology, Southern German cities aligned with Swiss reformer Zwingli joined other German powers following Luther to sign on to the Protest as one. They thus became known as Protestants, those who protested. There would be many different variations of reformed thought within Protestantism, but the term stuck for the overall group and concept. Luther (amazingly, when you consider what had happened to rebels in the past) was able to live and thrive rather than be killed. The Protestant church established itself so strongly, it shows no signs of vanishing. However, there were wars and much bloodshed in the process, including the Thirty Years War, which has been called as devastating for Germany as the conflicts of the 21st century.​​

James Wright and the Invention of Silly Putty

The plastic putty known as Silly Putty ®Ã‚  has been entertaining youngsters and providing them with innovative playtime since the 1940s. Its had an interesting history since then.   The Origins of Silly Putty ® James Wright, an engineer, discovered Silly Putty ®.  Just as with many awesome inventions, the discovery happened by accident.   Wright was working for the U.S. War Production Board at the time. He was charged with finding a substitute for synthetic rubber that wouldn’t cost the government an arm and a leg to produce. He mixed silicone oil with boric acid and found that the compound acted very much like rubber. It could rebound almost 25 percent higher than a normal rubber ball, and it was impervious to rot. Soft and malleable, it could stretch to many times its original length without tearing. Another of Silly Putty’s ® unique qualities was its ability to copy the image of any printed material it was pressed upon. Wright initially  called his discovery  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Nutty Putty.†Ã‚  The material was sold under the trade name Silly Putty ® in 1949 and it sold faster than any other toy in history, registering over $6 million in sales in the first year.   The Government Wasn’t Impressed Wright’s amazing Silly Putty ® never found a home with the U.S. government as a substitute for synthetic rubber. The government said it wasn’t a superior product. Tell that to millions of kids pressing globs of the stuff onto comic  pages,  lifting images of their favorite action heroes. Marketing consultant  Peter Hodgson didn’t agree with the government, either. Hodgson bought the production rights to Wrights bouncing putty and  is credited with changing the name of Nutty Putty to Silly Putty ®, introducing it to the  public at Easter, selling it inside plastic eggs. Silly Putty’s ® Practical Uses Silly Putty ® wasn’t initially marketed as a toy. In fact, it pretty much bombed at the 1950 International Toy Fair. Hodgson first intended  Silly Putty ® for an adult audience, billing it for its practical purposes.  But despite  its ignoble beginnings, Neiman-Marcus and Doubleday decided to go ahead and sell Silly Putty ® as a toy and it began to take off. When the  New Yorker  mentioned the stuff, sales bloomed – more than a quarter million orders were received within three days. Hodgson then reached his adult audience almost by accident. Parents soon discovered that not only could Silly Putty ® lift perfect images off comic pages, but it was pretty handy for pulling lint off of  fabric as well. It went to space with the Apollo 8 crew in 1968, where it proved effective at keeping objects in place in zero gravity. Binney Smith, Inc., creator of Crayola,  purchased Silly Putty ® after Hodgson’s death. The company claims that more than 300 million Silly Putty ® eggs have sold since 1950. The Composition of Silly Putty Although you probably don’t want to go to the trouble of whipping up a batch at home when you can simply buy some, the basic ingredients of  Silly Putty ®Ã‚  include: Dimethyl Siloxane: 65 percentSilica: 17 percentThixotrol ST: 9 percentPolydimethylsiloxane: 4 percentDecamethylcyclopentasiloxane: 1 percent  Glycerine: 1 percentTitanium Dioxide: 1 percent It’s a safe guess that Binney Smith aren’t divulging all their proprietary secrets, including the introduction of a wide array of  Silly Putty ®Ã‚  colors, some that even glow in the dark.