Our team recently organized a comedy night fundraiser for Make-A-Wish that was a resounding success. The event was designed to raise funds for a worthy cause, and we were delighted with the response from our community. The night was filled with laughter, excitement, and generosity, and we are proud of the contribution we were able to make to charity.
One of the key elements of the event was the talented comedians who performed throughout the night. We left no stone unturned to sell the tickets and convince people to take part in the raffle. The audience was in stitches all night, and the comedians kept the energy high and the laughter rolling. Their performances were a crucial part of the success of the night, and we are grateful for their participation.
Darlene Bennett from Make-A-Wish’s development team also joined us at the event and shared a few words about the charity at the end of the show. People were moved by her speech, where some of them also made their contributions towards donations.
Another important part of the fundraiser was the raffle we organized. A master card worth CAD$50, was kept as the price for the raffle. The raffle was a huge hit with the crowd, where a lot of people showed interest in buying the tickets as the price per ticket was just CAD$5.
The combination of the comedic performances and the raffle created a lively and festive atmosphere that encouraged our community to come together and support our cause. We were thrilled with the turnout and the amount of money we were able to raise. The funds we raised will go a long way in supporting the cause we were raising money for, and we are proud to have made a valuable contribution.
Throughout the project execution, we learnt the importance of marketing through the appropriate channels. We also learnt the importance of effective communication with the team members and the stakeholders, in order to execute the project as per the plan and managing risks throughout.
Overall, the comedy night fundraiser was a triumph. It was a true team effort, with everyone involved working hard to ensure the event was a success. We were able to bring together our community for a night of laughter, fun, and support for a worthy cause. The generosity of our community was inspiring, and we are grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. We hope to organize similar events in the future and continue to build a stronger, more connected community.
Reaction All Years
A fundraiser event for the Make-A-Wish foundation we aim to raise a minimum $1,000 or more in support of the cause of children with critical illnesses. We have gathered local Ottawa performers to present their talents to you. In addition, we have collected gift cards and coupons from local business owners that we have auctioned to all attendees.
Our client is the National Research Council Canada (NRC). Specifically, we are working with the aerospace department in the NRC. The NRC is looking to improve their ability to detect and simulate corrosion of aerospace materials. The paint currently used to paint air crafts is not eco-friendly. We will be testing various paints to see which one is the most corrosive resistant. This will save money and increase safety for the NRC and their contractors. Currently corrosion is very difficult to simulate under stress. The NRC aims to create a programable environment chamber that can be used in parallel with a hydraulic arm without damaging the arm.
Before this to better understand how to create a chamber we were tasked with setting up and calibrating a existing programmable environment chamber, a cyclic UV chamber, and 2 corrosion sensors. The 2 corrosion sensors are made by the same company and operate largely the same way, with the exception of one being wireless and the other needing constant USB connection.
Multiple tests were done on the corrosion sensors to test if they work properly. These included different salt concentrations, different temperatures, for varying lengths.
Overall it was a great experience to be apart of and a great opportunity, and many thanks go out to our client and contacts at the NRC, as well as all of our teachers over the years.
E-cigarettes are a prevalent health concern in today’s world. They are commonly marketed as a healthier alternative to regular cigarettes, this marketing is simply untrue and harmful to the masses that partake in vaping. The liquid used in vapes contains harmful chemicals, which when heated into an aerosol, produce dangerous toxic aldehydes that are inhaled into the lungs. Given how new vaping is to the public, there are many unforeseen health hazards that will begin to negatively affect the population in the future. Unless proper research done to prove that they are dangerous, the general public will see a decrease in overall health. This research is being done by measuring the aldehyde production from an E-cigarette at different wattages to determine the effect wattage has on aldehyde production. This is done by trapping the samples into a DNPH cartridge using tubing and a 500ml syringe connected to the cartridge and vape to pull the gas into the cartridge. The samples will then be eluted and ran through an HPLC to determine the concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein for all the wattages being tested. The samples will be run through the HPLC to obtain results that can be compared to each other to show the increase in aldehydes as the wattage increases. This research should move to push the public into understanding the implications of using E-cigarettes and just how harmful they may end up being to their future and the future of the people around them.
Pests can do a large amount of damage to important food crops and one of the most damaging pests is insects. The current method for dealing with insect pests is to spray crops with chemical pesticides. Unfortunately, pesticides are environmentally damaging, expensive, and dangerous to both human and animal health. Thus, the study of using Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) as biological control agents can provide a safer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional pesticide use. Insect larvae are part of the life cycle of nematodes as juvenile nematodes will enter the pores of insect larvae and once inside the larvae, they will release bacteria. This bacteria kills the larvae allowing the nematodes to grow into their adult forms inside the larvae. Once the nematodes have reached full maturity, they will recollect the bacteria and exit the dead larvae. As the life cycle of nematodes is dependent on an insect host, scientists have begun to use this cycle as a biological control agent for food crops. However, research on nematodes is lacking and more must be completed before nematodes can be seen as efficient insect control agents.
For our experiment, we received four nematode species/populations from the Natural Insect Control (NIC) Company, which included Steinernema carpocapsae, Steinernema feltiae, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and an unknown species. We focused on identifying differences between the four nematode species/populations and determining their optimal storage/survival temperature. Since nematodes have very few visual differences between them, they have to be identified using their DNA structures. In order to complete this, DNA was extracted from each species/population and analysed to determine any differences between their DNA sequences. Overall, we were able to identify genetic differences between the DNA of the four species/populations and determine that the unknown population of nematodes is likely to be another Heterorhabditis (i.e we received two populations of Heterorhabditis) population due to its similar DNA structure.
Once each species/population had been identified, their optimal storage and survival condition was determined. All four species/populations were split into 3 smaller sample sizes and these were stored in water at three different temperature points, 4°C, 10°C and 19°C respectively. They were kept in these temperature for 4 weeks with their viability (amount of living nematodes compared to dead nematodes) percentage being calculated each week. After the four weeks were completed, we determined that the two Steinernema populations survived effectively in all three temperatures as their population numbers did not diminish significantly over the test period. In comparison, the two Heterorhabditis populations survived at the 10°C and 19°C temperatures but they rapidly lost viability each week at the 4°C temperature point until the fourth week where both populations had nearly no surviving nematodes.
Using our DNA identification of the species/populations and the data from our determined optimal storage and survival temperature, the NIC Company can promote and identify their products with greater accuracy. This allows for both the company and clients to use their nematode products more effectively as insect biological control agents.
When tasked with creating a website for the Vernon Village Community Association, we quickly realized that the website needed to be able to grow and change along with the community. Our goal was to implement a system that would allow the residents of Vernon Village to share and engage with their neighbors.
There was a variety of content that needed to be displayed: images, upcoming community events, and more. Furthermore, it was required that community members be able to submit content, and that the website administrators be able to update and modify existing content. Given our small team size, and relative lack of time, we chose to use SvelteKit as a development framework for its flexibility, ease of use, simple deployment, and component system which encourages code re-use.
In addition, it was clear to us that the actual form of the content was not set in stone, and might have to change in response to the needs of the community. To that end, we decided to leverage the flexibility of MongoDB.
The end result was a lightweight community website with a content management system that allows people to engage and interact with their community.
An automated coffee dispenser that serves ready to drink beverages customized to a user’s preference. Fully automated with a menu screen and control knob with pushbutton, it dispenses instant coffee, sugar, cream, and hot water based on user input. Dispenses measured amounts and includes low level sensors for every item and a cup sensor.
Shopping agents in grocery stores today are human beings and are very specialized in their tasks and working hours. Persons with reduced mobility do not directly benefit from human agents as stores indent to increase revenue than increase customer experience of a minor group with accessibility requirements. Persons with reduced mobility, hence, are forced to drive motorized shopping carts. Another trend in the retail industry is to use video feeds from static CCTV cameras to assist in retail analytics, especially in stock and product placement monitoring. A mobile service robot can collect additional video feeds for this. We are prototyping a service robot through Reinforcement Learning and Machine Vision, with simulations on Nvidia Isaac Sim.
In the modern era, there are many apps and services that companies might integrate into their business activities. However, it can be difficult to decide on which ones are right for your business.
Our client, Ottawa Rec Sports (ORS), is facing an issue just like this. They are a local recreational sports organization with many active sports leagues that operate dozens of games every week. They prioritize creating a safe, fun, and inclusive environment for players of all skill levels to develop their abilities and meet new people. ORS strikes a balance between competitive and social recreational sports, fostering an inclusive environment.
Ottawa Rec Sports faces a unique challenge: Their existing data management system is no longer receiving the same level of online support and no longer meets the needs of the client. ORS currently has over a decade of player data, billing information, and thousands of pictures taken by the community they have built over the years, and they have no plans of slowing down. They need a service that they can rely on and that can support unique needs.
Our team is building a responsive, mobile-friendly web application that can serve as a more effective system for our client’s business. We designed each screen to provide a high quality user experience and to prioritize showing players what they want and need. Our goal is to provide an accessible and intuitive design that makes it easy for users of all technical levels to use, so they can spend less time on an app and more time doing what they love – playing sports!
Our team conducted user research with our client’s player base to better understand their mobile activities. We learned that the vast majority are comfortable using a variety of mobile applications, but want a simplified experience that doesn’t require a large time investment.
We began our design phase and created prototypes that made relevant stats as accessible as possible to players. Our app can also be used by the staff and management of Ottawa Rec Sports to add and update statistical information for their ongoing sports leagues.
The next step is the development phase. We utilize modern cutting-edge technologies like NextJS for our front-end and Amazon Web Services for our back-end to ensure that our application is optimized for best performance and user experience while being fully accessible to people of all demographics.
This project has been a great learning curve for us, teaching us about the different aspects of working in the industry. We learned about the process of how real world applications are built, the importance of communication in a team environment , and how everyone can collaborate effectively and build on each other’s strengths to increase productivity. This exposure will undoubtedly be a great foundation for us to learn and grow in this ever-changing industry.
This modular and motorized camera slider was made to solve the following issues in the video recording industry; firstly, many modular camera sliders are expensive and bulky, which puts them out of the hands of most small film makers. Secondly, modular camera sliders are scarce even in the age of the internet and online shopping, the ones that do exist are limited in their customizability, which reduces their ability to capture intermediate to advanced camera shots, and thus are not up to the standards of many small film makers.
Given these issues affect almost all small film makers but are not sufficiently addressed, a prototype camera slider was developed to combat these issues, bringing both affordability and customizability to the current market of camera sliders. This prototype camera slider is modular, with each tracking being able to connect to one another, and is fully motorized which allows the operator to place the camera at set positions along the track, pan the camera and its movement along the track directly, and speed up or slow down the rate of motion on the camera moving along the tracks.
The assembly is made of two major components, the modular camera slider tracks (sometimes referred to as slider tracks) and the motorized camera slider plate upon which any camera with an industry standard ¼-20 UNC thread can be mounted on.
The camera slider tracks are made from a lightweight yet incredibly durable 6061-T651 aluminum alloy. This allows the tracks to be extremely portable, which gives the operator a large degree of flexibility when it comes to selecting what kind of shot they want to capture by allowing them to carry multiple track variations, without much additional equipment or reserved space for the camera slider assembly. Each track can be mounted on tripods that support industry standard ¼-20 UNC threads or with the included leveling feet which raise the track up to 40 mm off the ground. Each track can connect to one another using the 304 stainless steel connecting plates and Allen key fasteners, this provides the tracks with a great deal of rigidity between one another, ensuring video motion stays smooth and consistent along all parts of the camera slider assembly.
The next major component of the camera slider assembly is the camera slider plate, which is sometimes referred to just as a “slider plate”. The camera slider plate is a custom designed part which is 3D printed using the cutting-edge carbon fiber PLA 3D printing filament. This plate was specially designed for the motorized camera slider’s tracks and compliments the lightweight tracks by providing an exceptional amount of rigidity and low weight for its size, further increasing the portability of the assembly. There are two layers of which the plate is made of an upper layer where a camera fitting a ¼-20 UNC thread can rest upon and pan using an included controller, as well as a lower layer that houses two belted-stepper motors for ultra-smooth movement of the slider plate along the tracks, which can be controlled by the operator using an included controller that also controls the pan functions of the camera slider plate.