Technological advancements have resulted in highly automated systems that are featured in many kinds of tools and devices, such as self-driving cars, autopilot in airplanes, and much more. Such systems have enabled tools to plan, decide, and act autonomously. This breakthrough resulted in a new manner of interacting with tools, known as "Human-Robot Joint Action" or "human-AI interaction," in which people and automated tools share control over the tasks that must be performed. However, little is known about the impact of such interactions on people and their sense of agency (SoA) as well as how much autonomy to grant to tools. As a result, the objective of this systematic review is to investigate and understand how automated tools affect human SoA, and if tools with different levels of automation affect our SoA differently. A search in two databases, Scopus, and MEDLINE EBSCO was conducted, and 8 articles were included. The findings suggest that the more automated the tool is, the less SoA participants experience, and that varied levels of automation may impact human SoA depending on the nature of the task. However, this topic is still in its infancy and more research is needed.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This dissertation evaluates the applicability of Elinor Ostrom’s theory of the commons to other forms of collective action by mapping it on a case study of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia and its efforts to overcome the vast disparities that have long structured the global coffee commodity chain (the “Coffee Paradox”). The conclusions I draw are the following. While Ostrom’s theory has serious omissions, it also sheds much needed light on the struggles of Ethiopia’s coffee farmers to overcome their poverty. Both the design principles that Ostrom identifies for governance rules and her list of predictors for successful common property resource management institutions suggest that Ethiopia’s coffee cooperatives could be in peril. However, by expanding Ostrom’s governance framework to incorporate a broader enabling role for governments as well as supportive roles for civic organizations, NGOs, and social movements, we see greater potential for the success of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union.

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Yes / GENOVATE Evaluation Model is a synthesis of the main ideas and steps to take into account while evaluating Gender Equality Action Plans [GEAPs], with concrete examples and tips drawn from the practices of GENOVATE partners. It will be a useful tool for all those planning to carry out an evaluation of a GEAP. / FP7

Yes / This Report from Eportfolio (D7.2) looks at GEAP implementation trends in general, while D6.2 focuses instead on the specifics of each partner's GEAP implementation experiences. The Report from Eportfolio presents the main advances and challenges regarding the 3 main areas of the GEAPs: gender equality in recruitment, progression and research support successes; working environment and culture change; and excellence in research and innovation through gender equality and diversity. It seeks to share lessons learned about GEAPs implementation. / FP7

<p> Existing approaches to the analysis of participation in community groups have adopted either a social-psychological view or a structural-political view of the impetus for participation. This paper attempts to integrate these two approaches, through analysis of the nature of the link between the impact of the issue, which serves as a source of conflict (a psychological view) and the organizational characteristics of the community group (a structural view). Using Dahrendorf's model of latent and manifest interests, research propositions are generated, focusing on four sets of factors conditioning the selection of group participation as a response to conflict. These are: psychological factors, technical conditions of organization, social conditions of organization, and political conditions of organization.</p> <p> Results of an empirical application of these propositions, using a questionnaire, show that the impetus for participation in a community group is a two stage process, depending on the existence of two separate sets of conditions: the impact of the issues, which is dependent upon the individual's distance from the source of conflict; and the social organization of the group. Based on analysis and interpretation of these results, hypotheses are generated, and are used to modify and expand Dahrendorf's model, in order to make it more applicable to the analysis of community group participation in locational conflict.</p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Live action role-playing (larp) is a form of narrative play that engages participants in fictional words within the dialectic of experience (unorganized time) and narrative (organized time). In this thesis I explore the complexities of the fictional worlds created by larps and how the participation in larps constructs requires a different engagement with traditional thoughts about narrative. Discussing fictional worlds theory, Aristotle, Frye, and Ricoeur along side concepts from game studies, such as the magic circle and the frames of exogeny, endogeny, and diegesis, I propose an alternative approach to understanding narrative within larps that looks at the larp worlds and plot as being driven by a process of affirming the identities constructed to participate within the fictional worlds through the mimetic process. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

<p dir="ltr">Human action recognition stands as a cornerstone in the domain of computer vision, with its utility spanning across emergency response, sign language interpretation, and the burgeoning fields of augmented and virtual reality. The transition from conventional video-based recognition to skeleton-based methodologies has been a transformative shift, offering a robust alternative less susceptible to environmental noise and more focused on the dynamics of human movement.</p><p dir="ltr">This body of work encapsulates the evolution of action recognition, emphasizing the pivotal role of Graph Convolution Network (GCN) based approaches, particularly through the innovative InfoGCN framework. InfoGCN has set a new precedent in the field by introducing an information bottleneck-based learning objective, a self-attention graph convolution module, and a multi-modal representation of the human skeleton. These advancements have collectively elevated the accuracy and efficiency of action recognition systems.</p><p dir="ltr">Addressing the prevalent challenge of occlusions, particularly in single-camera setups, the Pose Relation Transformer (PORT) framework has been introduced. Inspired by the principles of Masked Language Modeling in natural language processing, PORT refines the detection of occluded joints, thereby enhancing the reliability of pose estimation under visually obstructive conditions.</p><p dir="ltr">Building upon the foundations laid by InfoGCN, the Skeleton ODE framework has been developed for online action recognition, enabling real-time inference without the need for complete action observation. By integrating Neural Ordinary Differential Equations, Skeleton ODE facilitates the prediction of future movements, thus reducing latency and paving the way for real-time applications.</p><p dir="ltr">The implications of this research are vast, indicating a future where real-time, efficient, and accurate human action recognition systems could significantly impact various sectors, including healthcare, autonomous vehicles, and interactive technologies. Future research directions point towards the integration of multi-modal data, the application of transfer learning for enhanced generalization, the optimization of models for edge computing, and the ethical deployment of action recognition technologies. The potential for these systems to contribute to healthcare, particularly in patient monitoring and disease detection, underscores the need for continued interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.</p>