Merkmale eines Fehlurteils

Wrongful convictions punish accused persons who have committed no offence. Because the revision process basically only examines whether a verdict contains judicial errors and not whether it was correct or false, to correct a wrongful conviction there very often only remains the difficult way via an revision and a de novo trial. The author underlines some typical characteristics of wrongful convictions based on own experience in successful appeals which in particular involved wrongful accusations. Required are a systematic training of judges with respect to sources of error and an evaluation of errors of judgement by the Federal Ministry of Justice as a foundation for a reform of the right of appeal.     

Using high frame rate CMOS sensors for three-dimensional eye tracking

A novel three-dimensional eye tracker is described and its performance evaluated. In contrast to previous devices based on conventional video standards, the present eye tracker is based on programmable CMOS image sensors, interfaced directly to digital processing circuitry to permit real-time image acquisition and processing. This architecture provides a number of important advantages, including image sampling rates of up to 400/sec measurement, direct pixel addressing for preprocessing and acquisition, and hard-disk storage of relevant image data. The reconfigurable digital processing circuitry also facilitatesin-line optimization of the front-end, time-critical processes. The primary acquisition algorithm for tracking the pupil and other eye features is designed around the generalized Hough transform. The tracker permits comprehensive measurement of eye movement (three degrees of freedom) and head movement (six degrees of freedom), and thus provides the basis for many types of vestibulo-oculomotor and visual research. The device has been qualified by the German Space Agency (DLR) and NASA for deployment on the International Space Station. It is foreseen that the device will be used together with appropriate stimulus generators as a general purpose facility for visual and vestibular experiments. Initial verification studies with an artificial eye demonstrate a measurement resolution of better than 0.1° in all three components (i.e., system noise for each of the components measured as 0.006° H, 0.005° V, and 0.016° T. Over a range of ±20° eye rotation, linearity was found to be <0.5% (H), <0.5% (V), and <2.0% (T). A comparison with the scierai search coil technique yieldednear equivalent values for the systemnoise and the thickness of Listing’s plane.     

On the logic of psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory shows some specific features and problems. It exists in a number of variations, according to different schools as well as cultural and subcultural conditions, with different understandings even of core concepts. Instead of producing definite knowledge, results remain uncertain. They vary in use and imply a permanent reworking of ideas and conceptions. This is the effect of the kind of theory psychoanalysis has to use. Since psychodynamics are a special kind of heterogeneous, changing, always different, emergent-in a word, autopoietic-reality, psychoanalysis cannot use the methods of a denotative theory (algorithmic reduction leading to strictly defined and formulated calculations) but has to use connotative theories. Connotative theories use open concepts which provide an active and flexible access to autopoietic reality. They are able to cope with the difference between singularities as well as with the distance between general logic and empirical reality. Problems tied to this possibility are structural fuzziness, a dependence on forms of use, multiple paradigms and difficulties in legitimation and balance of theories. This causes problems of institutionalisation. These problems are not a sign of immaturity but the normal way in which connotative theories appear and develop. They can therefore not be eliminated but only be treated in a better way.     

Causal implications of Jaśkowski

Part 1 describes Stanis?aw Ja?kowski's concept of defining some often used con ditionals, namely, factorial, ewfficient and definitive implications. Part 2 contains the results strictly connected with the theory of the above implications.     

The effect of manipulated success ratios on task preference

The hypothesis that success influences task preferences was tested by subjecting 230 Ss to three different success-failure reinforcement schedules and observing subsequent preferences for the tasks concerned. Success ratios of 85-15%, 70-30%, and 50-50% in tasks dealing with unpreferred stimuli were used. Results supported the hypothesis: the probability of change in task preference was greatest under high success reinforcement ratio conditions.     

Zur ‘Regulativen Funktion’ Der Kantischen Antinomien

Ohne ZusammenfassungMein Dank gilt dem Philosoph. Department und dem Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies der Pennsylvania State University, die mir in Zusammenhang mit einem dort abgehaltenen Kant-Seminar Gelegenheit zur Ausarbeitung dieses Beitrages gaben.